{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,23]],"date-time":"2026-08-23T15:00:55Z","timestamp":1787497255600,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,19]],"date-time":"2026-05-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779148800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Plant Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Alpine\n                      <jats:italic>Rhododendron<\/jats:italic>\n                      species possess high ornamental value, but their sensitivity to prolonged high temperatures limits their application in subtropical regions.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>To elucidate the mechanisms underlying chronic heat tolerance, distinct from classical acute heat-shock responses, this study integrated phenotypic screening, physiological profiling, transcriptomics, and biochemical analysis of the glutathione system.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The heat-tolerant cultivar 'Gommer Waterer' maintained membrane integrity under 30-day chronic heat stress despite accumulating substantially elevated H\u2082O\u2082 levels, a dissociation consistent with preferential detoxification of lipid peroxidation products rather than broad-spectrum ROS scavenging. Comparative time-course transcriptomics revealed that the tolerant cultivar mounted a substantially larger and earlier transcriptional response than the heat-sensitive cultivar 'Fenjingling', with sustained enrichment of phenylpropanoid, lipid metabolism, and glutathione pathways. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis identified a key module significantly correlated with heat resilience traits and enriched in glutathione metabolism. Biochemical assays corroborated these network findings, with the tolerant cultivar showing higher constitutive GPX activity, a stress-induced surge in GST activity, and active glutathione redox cycling, whereas the sensitive cultivar displayed elevated GSH\/GSSG ratios accompanied by transcriptional repression of recycling enzymes\n                      <jats:italic>GR<\/jats:italic>\n                      and\n                      <jats:italic>DHAR<\/jats:italic>\n                      , suggesting redox stagnation rather than active defense.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Collectively, these findings suggest that glutathione-mediated detoxification of lipid peroxidation products is associated with membrane protection under prolonged thermal stress in this species, with the Theta-class hub gene\n                      <jats:italic>GSTT1<\/jats:italic>\n                      representing a candidate target for future functional validation and heat-tolerance breeding in woody ornamentals.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpls.2026.1832629","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,19]],"date-time":"2026-05-19T04:21:27Z","timestamp":1779164487000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Integrated morphological, physiological, and transcriptomic analyses reveal the survival strategies of alpine Rhododendron under chronic heat stress"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Mei","family":"Zhou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Flower Research Institute, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Lab of Yunnan Flower Breeding, National Engineering Research Center for Ornamental Horticulture","place":["Kunming, 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