Fig. 3

Effects of Al stress on the expression of transporter genes involved in root transport of Ca, Mg, and Cu and other divalent cations. a Heatmap analysis of expression patterns of genes encoding various transporters in roots in response to 0.4 mM and 2.5 mM Al stresses at different time points. The transporters include Type IIB Ca²⁺-ATPases (CsACA), Type IIA ER-Ca²⁺-ATPases (CsECA), Ionotropic glutamate receptor (CsGLR), Ca²⁺/H⁺ antiporter (CsCAX), Cyclic nucleotide-gated channels (CsCNGCs), Mechanosensitive ion channel like (CsMSL), Annexins (CsAnn), Mitochondria calcium uniporter (CsMCU). b Heatmap analysis of expression patterns of genes encoding tonoplast Mg/H transporter (CsMHX), Magnesium transporter (CsMGT), Heavy metal H-ATPase (CsHMA), and Copper transporter (CsCOPT). c qRT-PCR verification of expression patterns of several key transporter genes in roots in response to 0.4 mM and 2.5 mM Al. The heatmaps were made with transcriptome data normalized as Log₁₀(1 + log (1 + FPKM)). MeV software was used to depict transcript levels. qRT-PCR data are presented as means ± SD from three independent experiments and statistical significance is based on Student’s t-test (*P < 0.05; ** P < 0.001) compared with controls