The study investigated how barley (Hordeum vulgare) adjusts mitochondrial respiration under salinity stress using physiological, biochemical, metabolomic and proteomic approaches. Salt treatment increased respiration and activated the canonical TCA cycle, while the GABA shunt remained largely inactive, contrasting with wheat responses.

Using a barley pangenome of 76 genotypes and a pan‑transcriptome subset of 20, the study characterizes the diversity and evolutionary dynamics of CCT motif genes, uncovering novel frameshift variants and clade‑specific domain expansions. Phylogenetic and tissue‑specific expression analyses reveal functional divergence among paralogs, and the unexpected retention of the VRN2 repressor in spring barley suggests additional regulatory mechanisms beyond vernalization.