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Mechanism of Salinity Tolerance in Plants
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Mechanism of Salinity Tolerance in Plants

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Response to Abiotic Stress and Climate Change".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2020) | Viewed by 18228

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Devinder Sandhu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
USDA ARS Salinity Laboratory, Riverside, USA
Interests: salinity; salt tolerance; genetics; abiotic stress
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Salinity is a common problem throughout the world and is among one of the most important abiotic stresses that lead to significant crop losses. The salinity problem is further pronounced with the increasing scarcity of good-quality irrigation water. To cope with growing food demand due to an increasing human population, there is a greater need to develop more sustainable crops to increase productivity by utilizing saline water for irrigation.

In the early phase of salinity exposure, plant growth is suppressed due to osmotic stress, which is then followed by specific ion toxicity. Osmotic stress leads to reduced water absorption by a plant, directly impacting transpiration, mineral nutrient balance, photosynthesis, membrane stability, and ability to detoxify reactive oxygen species (ROS). Ionic stress leads to accumulation of specific ions in different plant tissue, such as Na+ and Cl-, which results in ion imbalance and may lead to deficiencies of essential nutrients for growth and development. To survive in saline environments, plants employ certain strategies and acquire various adaptive mechanisms, which include ion uptake, ion exclusion, ion compartmentalization, ion transport and balance, osmotic regulation, compatible solute accumulation, hormone metabolism, antioxidant metabolism, and stress signaling.

In order to comprehend the complex salinity puzzle, it is vital to understand the genetic determinants that regulate morphological, physiological, cellular, and metabolic responses, which is critical to developing genetic material tolerant to salinity. Furthermore, knowledge concerning the genetics and physiology of tolerance mechanisms will contribute to the identification of trait-based selection criteria which are critical for the development of breeding programs aimed at marker-assisted improvement of crop salt tolerance.

The aim and scope of this Special Issue is to encourage the publication of reviews and/or experimental research dealing with morphological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular aspects related to salt-tolerance mechanisms in plants.

Dr. Devinder Sandhu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • salinity
  • salt tolerance
  • salt stress
  • glycophytes
  • gene expression
  • waste water
  • water management
  • ion composition
  • ion transport
  • channels
  • transporters
  • Na+ transport
  • Cl-transport
  • K+ transport
  • proline
  • reactive oxygen
  • osmolytes
  • osmoregulation
  • relative water content
  • antioxidant enzymes
  • osmoprotectants

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 2431 KiB  
Article
RNAseq Analysis Reveals Altered Expression of Key Ion Transporters Causing Differential Uptake of Selective Ions in Canola (Brassica napus L.) Grown under NaCl Stress
by Mobina Ulfat, Habib-ur-Rehman Athar, Zaheerud-din Khan and Hazem M. Kalaji
Plants 2020, 9(7), 891; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9070891 - 14 Jul 2020
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 3264
Abstract
Salinity is one of the major abiotic stresses prevailing throughout the world that severely limits crop establishment and production. Every crop has an intra-specific genetic variation that enables it to cope with variable environmental conditions. Hence, this genetic variability is a good tool [...] Read more.
Salinity is one of the major abiotic stresses prevailing throughout the world that severely limits crop establishment and production. Every crop has an intra-specific genetic variation that enables it to cope with variable environmental conditions. Hence, this genetic variability is a good tool to exploit germplasms in salt-affected areas. Further, the selected cultivars can be effectively used by plant breeders and molecular biologists for the improvement of salinity tolerance. In the present study, it was planned to identify differential expression of genes associated with selective uptake of different ions under salt stress in selected salt-tolerant canola (Brassica napus L.) cultivar. For the purpose, an experiment was carried out to evaluate the growth response of different salt-sensitive and salt-tolerant canola cultivars. Plants were subjected to 200 mM NaCl stress. Canola cultivars—Faisal Canola, DGL, Dunkled, and CON-II—had higher growth than in cvs Cyclone, Ac-EXcel, Legend, and Oscar. Salt-tolerant cultivars were better able to maintain plant water status probably through osmotic adjustment as compared to salt-sensitive cultivars. Although salt stress increased shoot Na+ and shoot Cl− contents in all canola cultivars, salt-tolerant cultivars had a lower accumulation of these toxic nutrients. Similarly, salt stress reduced shoot K+ and Ca2+ contents in all canola cultivars, while salt-tolerant cultivars had a higher accumulation of K+ and Ca2+ in leaves, thereby having greater shoot K+/Na+ and Ca2+/Na+ ratios. Nutrient utilization efficiency decreased significantly in all canola cultivars due to the imposition of salt stress; however, it was greater in salt-tolerant cultivars—Faisal Canola, DGL, and Dunkled. Among four salt-tolerant canola cultivars, cv Dunkled was maximal in physiological attributes, and thus differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were assessed in it by RNA-seq analysis using next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques. The differentially expressed genes (DEG) in cv Dunkled under salt stress were found to be involved in the regulation of ionic concentration, photosynthesis, antioxidants, and hormonal metabolism. However, the most prominent upregulated DEGs included Na/K transporter, HKT1, potassium transporter, potassium channel, chloride channel, cation exchanger, Ca channel. The RNA-seq data were validated through qRT-PCR. It was thus concluded that genes related to the regulation of ionic concentrate are significantly upregulated and expressed under salt stress, in the cultivar Dunkled. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanism of Salinity Tolerance in Plants)
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20 pages, 1738 KiB  
Article
Spinach Plants Favor the Absorption of K+ over Na+ Regardless of Salinity, and May Benefit from Na+ When K+ is Deficient in the Soil
by Jorge F. S. Ferreira, Jaime Barros da Silva Filho, Xuan Liu and Devinder Sandhu
Plants 2020, 9(4), 507; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9040507 - 15 Apr 2020
Cited by 29 | Viewed by 3599
Abstract
Two spinach (Spinacea oleracea L.) cultivars were evaluated for their response to deficient (0.25 mmolc L−1 or 0.25 K) and sufficient (5.0 mmolc L−1 or 5.0 K) potassium (K) levels combined with salinities of 5, 30, 60, 90, [...] Read more.
Two spinach (Spinacea oleracea L.) cultivars were evaluated for their response to deficient (0.25 mmolc L−1 or 0.25 K) and sufficient (5.0 mmolc L−1 or 5.0 K) potassium (K) levels combined with salinities of 5, 30, 60, 90, and 120 mmolc L−1 NaCl. Plants substituted K for Na proportionally with salinity within each K dose. Plants favored K+ over Na+, regardless of salinity, accumulating significantly less Na at 5.0 K than at 0.25 K. Salinity had no effect on N, P, and K shoot accumulation, suggesting that spinach plants can maintain NPK homeostasis even at low soil K. Ca and Mg decreased with salinity, but plants showed no deficiency. There was no Na+ to K+ or Cl− to NO3− competition, and shoot biomass decrease was attributed to excessive NaCl accumulation. Overall, ‘Raccoon’ and ‘Gazelle’ biomasses were similar regardless of K dose but ‘Raccoon’ outproduced ‘Gazelle’ at 5.0 K at the two highest salinity levels, indicating that ‘Raccoon’ may outperform ‘Gazelle’ at higher NaCl concentrations. At low K, Na may be required by ‘Raccoon’, but not ‘Gazelle’. This study suggested that spinach can be cultivated with recycled waters of moderate salinity, and less potassium than recommended, leading to savings on crop input and decreasing crop environmental footprint. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanism of Salinity Tolerance in Plants)
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14 pages, 2993 KiB  
Article
Regulation of Ammonium Cellular Levels is An Important Adaptive Trait for the Euhalophytic Behavior of Salicornia europaea
by Jinbiao Ma, Valerio Cirillo, Dayong Zhang, Albino Maggio, Lei Wang, Xinlong Xiao and Yinan Yao
Plants 2020, 9(2), 257; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9020257 - 17 Feb 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2962
Abstract
Salinization of agricultural land is a devastating phenomenon which will affect future food security. Understanding how plants survive and thrive in response to salinity is therefore critical to potentiate tolerance traits in crop species. The halophyte Salicornia europaea has been used as model [...] Read more.
Salinization of agricultural land is a devastating phenomenon which will affect future food security. Understanding how plants survive and thrive in response to salinity is therefore critical to potentiate tolerance traits in crop species. The halophyte Salicornia europaea has been used as model system for this purpose. High salinity causes NH4+ accumulation in plant tissues and consequent toxicity symptoms that may further exacerbate those caused by NaCl. In this experiment we exposed Salicornia plants to five concentrations of NaCl (0, 1, 10, 50 and 200 mM) in combination with two concentrations of NH4Cl (1 and 50 mM). We confirmed the euhalophytic behavior of Salicornia that grew better at 200 vs. 0 mM NaCl in terms of both fresh (+34%) and dry (+46%) weights. Addition of 50 mM NH4Cl to the growth medium caused a general growth reduction, which was likely caused by NH4+ accumulation and toxicity in roots and shoots. When plants were exposed to high NH4Cl, high salinity reduced roots NH4+ concentration (−50%) compared to 0 mM NaCl. This correlates with the activation of the NH4+ assimilation enzymes, glutamine synthetase and glutamate dehydrogenase, and the growth inhibition was partially recovered. We argue that NH4+ detoxification is an important trait under high salinity that may differentiate halophytes from glycophytes and we present a possible model for NH4+ detoxification in response to salinity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanism of Salinity Tolerance in Plants)
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15 pages, 2295 KiB  
Article
Physiological and Anatomical Mechanisms in Wheat to Cope with Salt Stress Induced by Seawater
by Rania M. A. Nassar, Hedaya A. Kamel, Ahmed E. Ghoniem, Juan José Alarcón, Agnieszka Sekara, Christian Ulrichs and Magdi T. Abdelhamid
Plants 2020, 9(2), 237; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9020237 - 12 Feb 2020
Cited by 45 | Viewed by 7787
Abstract
Two pot experiments were conducted in a greenhouse to examine 14C fixation and its distribution in biochemical leaf components, as well as the physiological and anatomical adaptability responses of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grown with seawater diluted to 0.2, 3.0, 6.0, [...] Read more.
Two pot experiments were conducted in a greenhouse to examine 14C fixation and its distribution in biochemical leaf components, as well as the physiological and anatomical adaptability responses of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grown with seawater diluted to 0.2, 3.0, 6.0, and 12.0 dS m−1. The results showed significant reductions in chlorophyll content, 14C fixation (photosynthesis), plant height, main stem diameter, total leaf area per plant, and total dry weight at 3.0, 6.0, and 12.0 dS m−1 seawater salt stress. The 14C loss was very high at 12.0 ds m−1 after 120 h. 14C in lipids (ether extract) showed significant changes at 12.0 dS m−1 at 96 and 120 h. The findings indicated the leaf and stem anatomical feature change of wheat plants resulting from adaptation to salinity stress. A reduction in the anatomical traits of stem and leaf diameter, wall thickness, diameter of the hollow pith cavity, total number of vascular bundles, number of large and small vascular bundles, bundle length and width, thickness of phloem tissue, and diameter of the metaxylem vessel of wheat plants was found. In conclusion, salt stress induces both anatomical and physiological changes in the stem and leaf cells of wheat, as well as the tissues and organs, and these changes in turn make it possible for the plants to adapt successfully to a saline environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanism of Salinity Tolerance in Plants)
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