Dataset Information

Evaluating physiological responses of plants to salinity stress.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Because soil salinity is a major abiotic constraint affecting crop yield, much research has been conducted to develop plants with improved salinity tolerance. Salinity stress impacts many aspects of a plant's physiology, making it difficult to study in toto Instead, it is more tractable to dissect the plant's response into traits that are hypothesized to be involved in the overall tolerance of the plant to salinity.

Scope and conclusions

We discuss how to quantify the impact of salinity on different traits, such as relative growth rate, water relations, transpiration, transpiration use efficiency, ionic relations, photosynthesis, senescence, yield and yield components. We also suggest some guidelines to assist with the selection of appropriate experimental systems, imposition of salinity stress, and obtaining and analysing relevant physiological data using appropriate indices. We illustrate how these indices can be used to identify relationships amongst the proposed traits to identify which traits are the most important contributors to salinity tolerance. Salinity tolerance is complex and involves many genes, but progress has been made in studying the mechanisms underlying a plant's response to salinity. Nevertheless, several previous studies on salinity tolerance could have benefited from improved experimental design. We hope that this paper will provide pertinent information to researchers on performing proficient assays and interpreting results from salinity tolerance experiments.

SUBMITTER: Negrao S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5218372 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Evaluating physiological responses of plants to salinity stress.

Negrão S S Schmöckel S M SM Tester M M

Annals of botany 20161005 1

<h4>Background</h4>Because soil salinity is a major abiotic constraint affecting crop yield, much research has been conducted to develop plants with improved salinity tolerance. Salinity stress impacts many aspects of a plant's physiology, making it difficult to study in toto Instead, it is more tractable to dissect the plant's response into traits that are hypothesized to be involved in the overall tolerance of the plant to salinity.<h4>Scope and conclusions</h4>We discuss how to quantify the i ...[more]

PMID: 27707746

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Project description:The plant St. John's wort contains high levels of melatonin, an important biochemical that has both beneficial and adverse effects on stress. Therefore, a method for increasing melatonin levels in plants without adversely affecting their growth is economically important. In this study, we investigated the regulation of melatonin levels in St. John's wort by exposing samples to salinity stress (150 mM) and salicylic acid (0.25 mM) to augment stress tolerance. The results indicated that salinity stress significantly reduced the plant chlorophyll content and damaged the photosystem, plant growth and development. Additionally, these were reconfirmed with biochemical indicators; the levels of abscisic acid (ABA) and proline were increased and the activities of antioxidants were reduced. However, a significant increase was found in melatonin content under salinity stress through upregulation in the relative expression of tryptophan decarboxylase (TDC), tryptamine 5-hydroxylase (T5H), serotonin N-acetyltransferase (SNAT), and N-acetylserotonin methyltransferase (ASMT). The salicylic acid (SA) treatment considerably improved their photosynthetic activity, the maximum photochemical quantum yield (133%), the potential activity of PSⅡ (294%), and the performance index of electron flux to the final PS I electron acceptors (2.4%). On the other hand, SA application reduced ABA levels (32%); enhanced the activity of antioxidant enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) (15.4%) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) (120%); and increased polyphenol (6.4%) and flavonoid (75.4%) levels in salinity-stressed St. John's wort plants. Similarly, SA application under NaCl stress significantly modulated the melatonin content in terms of ion balance; the level of melatonin was reduced after SA application on salt-treated seedlings but noticeably higher than on only SA-treated and non-treated seedlings. Moreover, the proline content was reduced considerably and growth parameters, such as plant biomass, shoot length, and chlorophyll content, were enhanced following treatment of salinity-stressed St. John's wort plants with salicylic acid. These findings demonstrate the beneficial impact of salt stress in terms of a cost-effective approach to extract melatonin in larger quantities from St. John's wort. They also suggest the efficiency of salicylic acid in alleviating stress tolerance and promoting growth of St. John's wort plants.

Dataset Information

Evaluating physiological responses of plants to salinity stress.

Background

Scope and conclusions

Publications

Evaluating physiological responses of plants to salinity stress.

Similar Datasets

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