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Osmolyte accumulation in leaves of Tamarix ramosissima growing under various soil conditions in the Colorado River basin

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Abstract

Tamarix ramosissima is a dominant species in desert riparian ecosystems in the western USA. It is a phreatophytic halophyte, with salt glands on the leaves. While osmoregulation is essential for turgor maintenance under high salinity, the dose–response relationship to salinity of various osmolytes in plants with salt glands is still unknown. We profiled crude leaf extracts of T. ramosissima to identify the metabolic compounds that contribute to its salt tolerance. We compared leaf cation, soluble sugar, amino acid, and betaine content among T. ramosissima samples from five points along the Colorado River. The leaf sodium content of T. ramosissima trees increased with increasing soil salinity. Under high salinity conditions, soluble sugar and betaine content did not increase, but amino acids did. The increase in proline accumulation was highly and positively correlated with leaf sodium content. Thus, proline appears to be the essential osmolyte that T. ramosissima accumulates in response to severe salt stress in desert riparian areas of the USA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center of Decision Science for Sustainable Society, Kyushu University, Hakozaki 6-10-1, Higashi, Fukuoka, 812-8581, Japan

    Fumiko Iwanaga

  2. Desert Research Institute, 755 E Flamingo Road, Las Vegas, NV, 89119, USA

    Kumud Acharya

  3. Hokkaido Forest Research Station, Field Science Education and Research Center, Kyoto University, Tawa 553, Shibecha, Kawakami, Hokkaido, 088-2339, Japan

    Shogo Imada

  4. Arid Land Research Center, Tottori University, Hamasaka 1390, Tottori, 680-0001, Japan

    Fumiko Iwanaga, Takeshi Taniguchi, Kiyoshi Tanaka & Norikazu Yamanaka

  5. Faculty of Agriculture, Kinki University, Nakamachi, Nara, 3327-204, Japan

    Yukio Kawamura

  6. Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori University, Minami4-101, Koyama, Tottori, 680-8550, Japan

    Nobuhiro Mori & Fukuju Yamamoto

Authors
  1. Fumiko Iwanaga
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  2. Kumud Acharya
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  3. Shogo Imada
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  4. Takeshi Taniguchi
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  5. Yukio Kawamura
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  6. Kiyoshi Tanaka
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  7. Nobuhiro Mori
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  8. Fukuju Yamamoto
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  9. Norikazu Yamanaka
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Correspondence to Fumiko Iwanaga.

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Iwanaga, F., Acharya, K., Imada, S. et al. Osmolyte accumulation in leaves of Tamarix ramosissima growing under various soil conditions in the Colorado River basin. Landscape Ecol Eng 11, 199–207 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11355-014-0265-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11355-014-0265-8

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