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Physiological and transcriptional responses of contrasting alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) varieties to salt stress

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Abstract

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) acts as a most important legume forage crop and is widely cultivated in various environments. Salt stress is one of the major abiotic stresses in cultivation of alfalfa worldwide. Development of alfalfa cultivars for adaptable to salt environments can provide sustainable solutions. In the present study, we selected two varieties with contrasting salt tolerance—211609 and Xinjiang Daye—from 14 alfalfa varieties. Under salt stress condition, 211609 showed higher leaf water content, less severe cell membrane damage (Electrolyte leakage) and lower accumulation of reactive oxygen species than Xinjiang Daye which exhibited lower GSH content and less antioxidant enzyme activities. In addition, significantly higher expression levels of NHX1, ZFG, CBF4 and HSP23 genes were found in 211609 than those in Xinjiang Daye upon exposure to salt stress. Collectively, these results proved that 211609 showed higher tolerance to salt stress than Xinjiang Daye through regulation of physiological and transcriptional pathways. It could play an important role in breeding program of alfalfa varieties with improved stress tolerance in future.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by “the Hundred Talents Program”, the Knowledge Innovative Key Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. Y154761O01076 and No. Y329631O0263) and Funding Project of Sino-Africa Joint Research Center to Zhulong Chan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Plant Germplasm Enhancement and Specialty Agriculture, Wuhan Botanical Garden/Sino-Africa Joint Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Wenli Quan, Xun Liu & Zhulong Chan

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, China

    Wenli Quan & Xun Liu

  3. Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northeast Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, 810008, China

    Haiqing Wang

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  1. Wenli Quan
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  2. Xun Liu
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Correspondence to Haiqing Wang or Zhulong Chan.

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Quan, W., Liu, X., Wang, H. et al. Physiological and transcriptional responses of contrasting alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) varieties to salt stress. Plant Cell Tiss Organ Cult 126, 105–115 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-016-0981-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-016-0981-x

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