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Salt-induced expression of genes related to Na+/K+ and ROS homeostasis in leaves of salt-resistant and salt-sensitive poplar species

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Abstract

Using the Affymetrix poplar genome array, we explored the leaf transcriptome of salt-tolerant Populus euphratica Oliv. and salt-sensitive P. popularis 35-44 (P. popularis) under control and saline conditions. Our objective was to clarify the genomic differences in regulating K+/Na+ and reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis between the two species. Compared to P. popularis, salt-tolerant P. euphratica responses to salinity involved induction of a relatively larger number of probesets after short-term (ST) exposure to 150 mM NaCl (24 h) and relatively fewer probesets after a long-term (LT) exposure to salinity (200 mM NaCl, 28 days). Compared to P. popularis, leaves of the control P. euphratica plants exhibited a higher transcript abundance of genes related to Na+/H+ antiport (Na+/H+ antiporters, H+ pumps) and K+ uptake and transport. Notably, the expression of these genes did not decrease (with a few exceptions) during salt treatment. Regarding ROS homeostasis, P. euphratica exhibited rapid up-regulation of a variety of antioxidant enzymes after exposure to ST salinity, indicating a rapid adaptive response to salt stress. However, the effect of NaCl on transcription in P. popularis leaves was more pronounced after exposure to prolonged salinity. LT-stressed P. popularis up-regulated some genes mediating K+/Na+ homeostasis but decreased transcription of main scavengers of superoxide radicals and H2O2 except for some isoforms of a few scavengers. Mineral and ROS analyses show that NaCl induced a marked increase of leaf Na+ and H2O2 in LT-stressed plants of the two species and the effects were even more pronounced in the salt-sensitive poplar. We place the transcription results in the context of our physiological measurements to infer some implications of NaCl-induced alterations in gene expression related to K+/Na+ and ROS homeostasis.

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Acknowledgments

The research was supported jointly by the HI-TECH Research and Development Programme of China (863 Programme, grant number 2006AA10Z131), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 30430430, 30872005), the Foundation for Supervisors of Beijing Excellent Doctoral Dissertations (grant number YB20081002201), the Foundation for Authors of the National Excellent Doctoral Dissertation of PR China (grant number 200152), the Teaching and Research Award Programme for Outstanding Young Teachers at Higher Education Institutions of the Ministry of Education (MOE), PRC (grant number 2002-323), the Key project of the MOE, PRC (grant number 2009-84) and the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (grant number 2007ABB003). We thank Prof. Dr. Tom Hazenberg (Faculty of Forestry and the Forest Environment, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, ON, Canada) for his English corrections. We acknowledge the offer for the use of the confocal miscroscope by the Platform of Large Instruments and Equipment at Beijing Forestry University.

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Correspondence to Shaoliang Chen.

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Mingquan Ding, Peichen Hou, Xin Shen, Meijuan Wang and Shurong Deng contributed equally to this work.

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Ding, M., Hou, P., Shen, X. et al. Salt-induced expression of genes related to Na+/K+ and ROS homeostasis in leaves of salt-resistant and salt-sensitive poplar species. Plant Mol Biol 73, 251–269 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-010-9612-9

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