EbbHLH80 Enhances Salt Responses by Up-Regulating Flavonoid Accumulation and Modulating ROS Levels.

transcription factors are involved in multiple aspects of plant biology, such as the response to abiotic stress. is a composite plant, and its rich flavonoids have strong preventive and therapeutic effects on cardio cerebral vascular disease. , a gene from that positively regulates flavonoid synthesis, was previously characterized. However, it is unclear whether increases flavonoid accumulation, which affects salt tolerance. The function of in transgenic tobacco seeds was identified by phylogenetic analysis and metabolome-transcriptome analysis. We investigated the role of in salt stress response. Our results showed that the expression of increased following salt treatment. Integrating the metabolome and transcriptome analysis of -OE and Yunyan 87 (WT) seeds, we identified several genes and metabolites related to flavonoid biosynthesis and salt stress. Moreover, -OE plants displayed higher salt tolerance than wild-type plants during seed germination and seedling growth. After salt treatment, transgenic tobacco had significantly lower levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) than WT, with enhanced levels of antioxidant enzyme expression. Altogether, our results demonstrated that might be a positive regulator, promoting salt tolerance by modulating ROS scavenging and increasing stress-responsive genes.