Abstract
Decaploid Elytrigia elongata (tall wheatgrass) is a halophytic relative of wheat that is used to improve salt tolerance of wheat in China. However, the physiological mechanisms for the salt tolerance of decaploid E. elongata remain elusive. To further gain insights into mechanisms important for salt tolerance, we present here a comparative study of salt tolerance in salt-sensitive tetraploid E. elongata (PI578686) and salt-tolerant decaploid E. elongata (PI276399). Results showed that compared with PI578686, PI276399 exhibited a higher relative growth rate and a stronger selective absorption and -transport capacity for K+ over Na+ under high salt conditions (100–200 mM NaCl). This contributed to maintain lower net Na+ uptake rates and more efficiently control Na+ transport to the shoot in PI276399 than in PI578686. Meanwhile, this also resulted in lower reductions of tissue K+ concentrations as well as of net K+ uptake rates in PI276399 compared to PI578686. Taken together, our findings indicate that PI276399 has the stronger selectivity for K+ over Na+ contributing it to maintain lower Na+ uptake and K+ loss compared with PI578686 in the presence of high salt, and hence endowing the higher salt tolerance of PI276399.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alemán F, Nieves-Cordones M, Martínez V, Rubio F (2009) Potassium/sodium steady-state homeostasis in Thellungiella halophila and Arabidopsis thaliana under long-term salinity conditions. Plant Sci 176:768–774
Apse MP, Blumwald E (2007) Na+ transport in plants. FEBS Lett 581:2247–2254
Blumwald E, Aharon GS, Apse MP (2000) Sodium transport in plant cells. Biochim Biophys Acta 1465:140–151
Bose J, Rodrigo-Moreno A, Shabala S (2014) ROS homeostasis in halophytes in the context of salinity stress tolerance. J Exp Bot 65:1241–1257
Colmer TD, Epstein E, Dvořák J (1995) Differential solute regulation in leaf blades of various ages in salt-sensitive wheat and a salt-tolerant wheat × Lophopyrum elongatum (Host) A. Love amphiploid. Plant Physiol 108:1715–1724
Colmer TD, Flowers TJ, Munns R (2006) Use of wild relatives to improve salt tolerance in wheat. J Exp Bot 57:1059–1078
Deal KR, Goyal S, Dvořák J (1999) Arm location of Lophopyrum elongatum genes affecting K+/Na+ selectivity under salt stress. Euphytica 108:193–198
Demidchik V, Maathuis FJM (2007) Physiological roles of nonselective cation channels in plants: from salt stress to signaling and development. New Phytol 175:387–405
Demidchik V, Tester MA (2002) Sodium fluxes through nonselective cation channels in the plant plasma membrane of protoplasts from Arabidopsis roots. Plant Physiol 128:379–387
Dewey DR (1960) Salt tolerance of 25 strains of Agropyron. Agron J 52:631–635
Essah PA, Davenport RJ, Tester M (2003) Sodium influx and accumulation in A. thaliana. Plant Physiol 133:307–318
Flowers TJ, Colmer TD (2008) Salinity tolerance in halophytes. New Phytol 179:945–963
Gharsa MA, Parre E, Debez A, Bordenave M, Richard L, Leport L, Bouchereau A, Savouré A, Abdelly C (2008) Comparative salt tolerance analysis between Arabidopsis thaliana and Thellungiella halophila, with special emphasis on K+/Na+ selectivity and proline accumulation. J Plant Physiol 165:588–599
Gorham J, Jones RG, Bristol A (1990) Partial characterization of the trait for enhanced K+-Na+ discrimination in the D genome of wheat. Planta 180:590–597
Greenway H, Rogers A (1963) Growth and ion uptake of Agropyron elongatum on saline substrates, as compared with a salt-tolerant variety of Hordeum vulgare. Plant Soil 18:21–30
Gulick PJ, Dvořák J (1992) Coordinate gene response to salt stress in Lophopyrum elongatum. Plant Physiol 100:1384–1388
Guo Q, Wang P, Ma Q, Zhang JL, Bao AK, Wang SM (2012) Selective transport capacity for K+ over Na+ is linked to the expression levels of PtSOS1 in halophyte Puccinellia tenuiflora. Func Plant Biol 39:1047–1057
Guo Q, Meng L, Mao PC, Tian XX (2013a) Role of silicon in alleviating salt-induced toxicity in white clover. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 91:213–216
Guo Q, Meng L, Mao PC, Tian XX (2013b) Role of silicon in alleviating salt-induced toxicity in white clover. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 91:213–216
Hariadi Y, Marandon K, Tian Y, Jacobsen SE, Shabala S (2011) Ionic and osmotic relations in quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) plants grown at various salinity levels. J Exp Bot 62:185–193
James RA, Blake C, Byrt CS, Munns R (2011) Major genes for Na+ exclusion Nax1 and Nax2 (wheat HKT1;4 and HKT1;5) decrease Na+ accumulation in bread wheat under saline and waterlogged conditions. J Exp Bot 62:2939–2947
Maathuis FJM, Amtmann A (1999) K+ nutrition and Na+ toxicity: the basis of cellular K+/Na+ ratios. Ann Bot 84:123–133
Mao PS, Huang Y, Wang XG, Meng L, Mao PC, Zhang GF (2010) Cytological evaluation and karyotype analysis in plant germplasms of Elytrigia Desv. Agri Sci China 91:1553–1560
Martínez JP, Kinet JM, Bajji M, Lutts S (2005) NaCl alleviates polyethylene glycol-induced water stress in the halophyte species Atriplex halimus L. J Exp Bot 419:2421–2431
McGuire GE, Dvořák J (1981) High salt tolerance potential in wheat grasses. Crop Sci 21:702–705
Meng L, Shang CY, Mao PC, Zhang GF, An SZ (2009) A comprehensive evaluation of salt tolerance for germplasm and materials of Elytrigia at the seeding stage. Acta Pratac Sin 18:67–74 (in Chinese)
Mullan DJ, Colmer TD, Francki MG (2007) Arabidopsis–rice–wheat gene orthologues for Na+ transport and transcript analysis in wheat–L. elongatum aneuploids under salt stress. Mol Genet Genomics 277:199–212
Munns R (2005) Genes and salt tolerance: bringing them together. New Phytol 167:645–663
Munns R, Tester M (2008) Mechanisms of Salinity Tolerance. Annu Rev Plant Biol 59:651–681
Peng YH, Zhu YF, Mao YQ, Wang SM, Su WA, Tang ZC (2004) Alkali grass resists salt stress through high [K+] and an endodermis barrier to Na+. J Exp Bot 55:939–949
Shabala L, Cuin TA, Newman IA, Shabala S (2005) Salinity-induced ion flux patterns from the excised roots of Arabidopsis sos mutants. Planta 222:1041–1050
Shabala S, Demidchik V, Shabala L, Cuin TA, Smith SJ, Miller AJ, Davies JM, Newman IA (2006) Extracellular Ca2+ ameliorates NaCl-induced K+ loss from Arabidopsis root and leaf cells by controlling plasmamembrane K+-permeable channels. Plant Physiol 141:1653–1665
Shan L, LI CL, Chen F, Zhao SY, Xia GM (2008) Bowman-Birk type protease inhibitor is involved in the tolerance to salt stress in wheat. Plant Cell Environ 31:1128–1137
Shannon MG (1978) Testing salt tolerance variability among tall wheatgrass lines. Agri J 20:719–722
Tester M, Davenport R (2003) Na+ tolerance and Na+ transport in higher plants. Ann Bot 91:503–527
Wang SM, Zhao GQ, Gao YS, Tang ZC, Zhang CL (2005) Puccinellia tenuiflora exhibits stronger selectivity for K+ over Na+ than wheat. J Plant Nutr 27:1841–1857
Wang SM, Zhang JL, Flowers TJ (2007) Low affinity Na+ uptake in the halophyte Suaeda maritima. Plant Physiol 145:559–571
Wang CM, Zhang JL, Liu XS, Li Z, Wu GQ, Cai JY, Flowers TJ, Wang SM (2009) Puccinellia tenuiflora maintains a low Na+ level under salinity by limiting unidirectional Na+ influx resulting in a high selectivity for K+ over Na+. Plant Cell Environ 32:486–496
Weimberg R, Shannon MC (1988) Vigor and salt tolerance in 3 lines of tall wheatgrass. Physiol Plant 73:232–237
Wu GQ, Liang N, Feng RJ, Zhang JJ (2013) Evaluation of salinity tolerance in seedlings of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) cultivars using proline, soluble sugars and cation accumulation criteria. Acta Physiol Plant 35:2665–2674
Xia G, Xiang F, Zhou A, Wang H, Chen H (2003) Asymmetric somatic hybridization between wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and Agropyron elongatum (Host) Nevishi. Theor Appl Genet 107:305–399
Yeo AR, Flowers TJ (1983) Varietal differences in the toxicity of sodium ions in rice leaves. Physiol Plant 59:189–195
Zhu JK (2001) Plant salt tolerance. Trends Plant Sci 6:66–71
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31272489) and the Scientific Innovation Ability Construction Project of Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences (BAAFS) (Grant No. KJCX20140103).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Additional information
Communicated by J. V. Jorrin-Novo.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Supplementary Fig. 1 Tissue K+/Na+ ratios of salt sensitive tetraploid E. elongata (PI578686) and salt tolerant decaploid E. elongata (PI276399) were exposed to 0, 25, 50, 100, 150 and 200 mM NaCl for 7 d. K+/Na+ ratios in (a) shoot and (b) root of PI578686 and PI276399. Five plants were pooled in each replicate (n = 5). Data are mean ± SE. Different letters indicate significant difference at P < 0.05 (Duncan test).
Supplementary Fig. 2 Root H2O2 contents of salt sensitive tetraploid E. elongata (PI578686) and salt tolerant decaploid E. elongata (PI276399) were exposed to 0, 25, 50, 100, 150 and 200 mM NaCl for 7 d. Five plants were pooled in each replicate (n = 5). Data are mean ± SE. Different letters indicate significant difference at P < 0.05 (Duncan test).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Guo, Q., Meng, L., Mao, PC. et al. Salt tolerance in two tall wheatgrass species is associated with selective capacity for K+ over Na+ . Acta Physiol Plant 37, 1708 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-014-1708-4
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-014-1708-4