Abstract
Although barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is a salt-tolerant crop, the underlying physiological and molecular mechanisms of salt tolerance remain to be elucidated. Therefore, we investigated the response of salt-tolerant (K305) and salt-sensitive (I743) cultivars to salt stress at both physiological and molecular levels. Salt treatment increased xylem sap osmolarity, which was attributed primarily to a rise in Na+ and Cl− concentration; enhanced accumulation of the ions in shoots; and reduced plant growth more severely in I743 than K305. The concentration of K+ in roots and shoots decreased during 8 h of salt treatment in both cultivars but with no marked difference between cultivars. Hence, the severe growth reduction in I743 is attributed to the elevated levels of (mainly) Na+ in shoots. Analysis of gene expression using quantitative RT-PCR showed that transcripts of K+-transporters (HvHAK1 and HvAKT1), vacuolar H+-ATPase and inorganic pyrophosphatase (HvHVA/68 and HvHVP1) were more abundant in shoots of K305 than in shoots of I743. Expression of HvHAK1 and Na+/H+ antiporters (HvNHX1, HvNHX3 and HvNHX4) was higher in roots of K305 than in I743 with prolonged exposure to salt. Taken together, these results suggest that the better performance of K305 compared to I743 during salt stress may be related to its greater ability to sequester Na+ into sub-cellular compartments and/or maintain K+ homeostasis.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Apse MP, Aharon GS, Snedden WA, Blumwald E (1999) Salt tolerance conferred by overexpression of a vacuolar Na+/H+ antiport in Arabidopsis. Science 285:1256–1258
Armstrong F, Leung J, Grabov A, Brearley J, Giraudat J, Blatt MR (1995) Sensitivity to abscisic acid of guard cell K+ channels is suppressed by abi1–1, a mutant Arabidopsis gene encoding a putative protein phosphatase. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 92:9520–9524
Ballesteros E, Blumwald E, Donaire JP, Belver A (1997) Na+/H+ antiport activity in tonoplast vesicles isolated from sunflower roots induced by NaCl stress. Physiol Plant 99:328–334
Banuelos MA, Garciadeblas B, Cubero B, Rodriguez-Navarro A (2002) Inventory and functional characterization of the HAK potassium transporters of rice. Plant Physiol 130:784–795
Bethke PC, Jones RL (1997) Reversible protein phosphorylation regulates the activity of slow-vacuolar ion channel. Plant J 11:1227–1235
Bhandal IS, Malik CP (1988) Potassium estimation, uptake, and its role in the physiology and metabolism of flowering plants. Int Rev Cytol 110:205–254
Blumwald E, Poole RT (1985) Na+/H+ antiport in isolated tonoplast vesicles from storage tissue of Beta vulgaris. Plant Physiol 78:163–167
Blumwald E, Poole RT (1987) Salt tolerance in suspension cultures of sugar beet. Plant Physiol 83:884–887
Chavan P, Karadge B (1980) Influence of sodium chloride and sodium sulphate salinization on photosynthesis carbon assimilation in pea nuts. Plant Soil 56:201–207
Chen Z, Cuin TA, Zhou M, Twomey A, Naidu BP, Shabala S (2007) Compatible solute accumulation and stress-mitigating effects in barley genotypes contrasting in their salt tolerance. J Exp Bot 58:4245–4255
Chomezynski P, Sacchi N (1987) Single-step method of RNA isolation by acid guanidinium thiocyanate–phenol–chloroform extraction. Anal Biochem 162:156–159
Colmer TD, Epstein E, Dvorak J (1995) Differential solute regulation in leaf blades of various ages in salt-sensitive wheat and a salt-tolerant wheat X Lophopyrum elongatum (Host) A. Love amphiploid. Plant Physiol 108:1715–1724
Davenport RJ, Muñoz-Mayo A, Jha D, Essah PA, Rus A, Tester M (2007) The Na+ transporter AtHKT1;1 controls retrieval of Na+ from the xylem in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell Environ 30:497–507
Di Martino C, Delfine S, Pizzuto R, Loreto F, Fuggi A (2003) Free amino acids and glycine betaine in leaf osmoregulation of spinach responding to increasing salt stress. New Phytol 158:455–463
Dinneny JR, Long TA, Wang JY, Jung JW, Mace D, Pointer S, Barron C, Brady SM, Schiefelbein J, Benfey PN (2008) Roots to abiotic stress cell identity mediates the response. Science 320:942–944
Emmerlich V, Linka N, Reinhold T, Hurth MA, Traub M, Martinoia E, Neuhaus HE (2003) The plant homolog to the human sodium/dicarboxylic cotransporter is the vacuolar malate carrier. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100:11122–11126
Enstone DE, Peterson CA, Ma F (2003) Root endodermis and exodermis: structure, function, and responses to the environment. J Plant Growth Regul 21:335–351
Fan TWM, Higashi RM, Norlyn J, Epstein E (1989) In vivo 23Na and 31P NMR measurement of a tonoplast Na+/H+ exchange process and its characteristics in two barley cultivars. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 86:9856–9860
Flowers TJ (1988) Chloride as a nutrient and as an osmoticum. In: Tinker B, Läuchli A (eds) Advances in plant nutrition, vol 3. Praeger, New York, pp 55–78
Fu HH, Luan S (1998) AtKUP1: a dual affinity K-transporter from Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 10:63–73
Fukuda A, Yazaki Y, Ishikawa T, Koike S, Tanaka Y (1998) Na+/H+ antiporter in tonoplast vesicles from rice roots. Plant Cell Physiol 39:196–201
Fukuda A, Nakamura A, Tanaka Y (1999) Molecular cloning and expression of the Na+/H+ exchanger gene in Oryza sativa. Biochim Biophy Acta 1446:149–155
Garbarino J, DuPont FM (1989) Rapid induction of Na+/H+ exchange activity in barley root tonoplast. Plant Physiol 89:1–4
Garthwaite AJ, von Bothmer R, Colmer TD (2005) Salt tolerance in wild Hordeum species is associated with restricted entry of Na+ and Cl− into the shoots. J Exp Bot 56:2365–2378
Golldack D, Dietz KJ (2001) Salt-induced expression of the vacuolar H+-ATPase in the common ice plant is developmentally controlled and tissue specific. Plant Physiol 125:1643–1654
Golldack D, Su H, Quigley F, Kamasani UR, Muñoz-Garay C, Balderas E, Popova OV, Bennett J, Bohnert HJ, Pantoja O (2002) Characterization of a HKT-type transporter in rice as a general alkali cation transporter. Plant J 31:529–542
Horie T, Yoshida K, Nakayama H, Yamada K, Oiki S, Shinmyo A (2001) Two types of HKT transporters with different properties of Na+ and K+ transport in Oryza sativa. Plant J 27:129–138
Horie T, Horie R, Chan WY, Leung HY, Schroeder JI (2006) Calcium regulation of sodium hypersensitivities of sos3 and athkt1 mutants. Plant Cell Physiol 47:622–633
Horie T, Costa A, Kim TH, Han MJ, Horie R, Leung HY, Miyao A, Hirochika H, An G, Schroeder JI (2007) Rice OsHKT2;1 transporter mediates large Na+ influx component into K+-starved roots for growth. EMBO J 26:3003–3014
Kader MA, Seidel T, Golldack D, Lindberg S (2006) Expressions of OsHKT1, OsHKT2 and OsVHA are differentially regulated under NaCl stress in salt-sensitive and salt-tolerant rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars. J Exp Bot 57:4257–4268
Katsuhara M, Yamada M, Kasamo K (2001) Isolation of barley salT gene: its relation to salt tolerance and to hormonal regulation by abscisic acid and jasmonic acid. Soil Sci Plant Nutr 47:187–193
Kim EJ, Kwak JM, Uozumi N, Schroeder JI (1998) AtKUP1: an Arabidopsis gene encoding high-affinity potassium transport activity. Plant Cell 10:51–62
Kluge C, Lamkemeyer P, Tavakoli N, Golldack D, Kandlbinder A, Dietz KJ (2003) cDNA cloning of 12 subunits of the V-type ATPase from Mesembryanthemum crystallinum and their expression under stress. Mol Membr Biol 20:171–183
Köhler B, Blatt MR (2002) Protein phosphorylation activates the guard cell Ca2+ channel and is a prerequisite for gating by abscisic acid. Plant J 32:185–194
Krishnamurthy P, Ranathunge K, Franke R, Prakash HS, Schreiber L, Mathew MK (2009) The role of root apoplastic transport barriers in salt tolerance of rice (Oryza sativa L.). Planta 230:119–134
Latorre R, Olcese R, Basso C, Gonzalez C, Munoz F, Cosmelli D, Alvarez O (2003) Molecular coupling between voltage sensor and pore opening in the Arabidopsis inward rectifier K+ channel KAT1. J Gen Physiol 122:459–469
Laurie S, Feeney KA, Maathuis FJM, Heard PJ, Brown SJ, Leigh RA (2002) A role for HKT1 in sodium uptake by wheat roots. Plant J 32:139–149
Leonova TG, Goncharova EA, Khodorenko AV, Babakov AV (2005) Characteristics of salt-tolerant and salt-susceptible cultivars of barley. Russ J Plant Physiol 52:774–778
Maas EV (1993) Salinity and citriculture. Tree Physiol 12:195–216
Maathuis FJM (2006) The role of monovalent cation transporters in plant responses to salinity. J Exp Bot 57:1137–1147
Maathuis FJM, Amtmann A (1999) K+ nutrition and Na+ toxicity: the basis of cellular K+/Na+ ratios. Ann Bot 84:123–133
Mano Y (1996) Studies on breeding and evaluation of germplasm for salt tolerance in barley (in Japanese with English summary). Special report of the Barley Germplasm Center Okayama University 2:1–89
Marschner H (1995) Mineral nutrition of higher plants, 2nd edn. Academic, London
Meloni DA, Oliva MA, Ruiz HA, Martinez CA (2001) Contribution of proline and inorganic solutes to osmotic adjustment in cotton under salt stress. J Plant Nutr 24:599–612
Munns R (2001) Avenues for increasing salt tolerance of crops. In: Horst J et al (eds) Plant nutrition: food security and sustainability of agro-ecosystems. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 370–371
Munns R (2002) Comparative physiology of salt and water stress. Plant Cell Environ 25:239–250
Munns R, Guo J, Passioura JB, Cramer GR (2000) Leaf water status controls day-time but not daily rates of leaf expansion in increasing salt tolerance in monocotyledonous plants 1041 salt-treated barley. Aust J Plant Physiol 27:949–957
Munns R, James AJ, Läuchli A (2006) Approaches to increasing the salt tolerance of wheat and other cereals. J Exp Bot 57:1025–1043
Peterson CA (1988) Exodermal Casparian bands: their significance for ion uptake by roots. Physiol Plant 72:204–208
Pitman MG, Lauchli A, Stelzer R (1981) Ion distribution in roots of barley seedlings measured by electron probe X-ray microanalysis. Plant Physiol 68:673–679
Quintero J, Blatt MR (1997) A new family of K-transporters from Arabidopsis that are conserved across phyla. FEBS Lett 415:206–211
Robards AW, Jackson SM, Clarkson DT, Sanderson J (1973) The structure of barley roots in relation to the transport of ions into the stele. Protoplasma 77:291–311
Royo A, Aragüés R (1999) Salinity-yield response functions of barley genotypes assessed with a triple line source sprinkler system. Plant Soil 209:9–20
Royo A, Aragüés R, Playán E, Ortiz R (2000) Salinity-grain yield response functions of barley cultivars assessed with a drip-injection irrigation system. Soil Sci Soc Am J 64:359–365
Rubio F, Gassmann W, Schroeder JI (1995) Sodium-driven potassium uptake by the plant potassium transporter HKT1 and mutations conferring salt tolerance. Science 270:1660–1663
Rubio F, Gassmann W, Schroeder JI (1996) Technical comment. Science 273:978–979
Rus A, Yokoi S, Sharkhuu A, Reddy M, Lee BH, Matsumoto TK, Koiwa H, Zhu JK, Bressan RA, Hasegawa PM (2001) AtHKT1 is a salt tolerance determinant that controls Na+ entry into plant roots. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98:14150–14155
Salimath BP, Marme D (1983) Protein phosphorylation and its regulation by calcium and calmodulin in membrane fractions from zucchini hypocotyls. Planta 158:560–568
Santa-Maria GE, Rubio F, Dubcovsky J, Rodriguez-Navarro A (1997) The HAK1 gene of barley is a member of a large gene family and encodes a high-affinity potassium transporter. Plant Cell 9:2281–2289
Schachtman DP, Schroeder JI (1994) Structure and transport mechanism of a high-affinity potassium uptake transporter from higher plants. Nature 370:655–658
Staal M, Maathuis FJM, Elzenga TM, Overbeek HM, Prins HBA (1991) Na+/H+ antiport activity in tonoplast vesicles from roots of the salt-tolerant Plantago maritima and the salt-sensitive Plantago media. Physiol Plant 82:179–184
Tester M, Davenport R (2003) Na+ tolerance and Na+ transport in higher plants. Ann Bot 91:503–527
Uozumi N, Kim EJ, Rubio F, Yamaguchi T, Muto S, Tsuboi A, Bakker EP, Nakamura T, Schroeder JI (2000) The Arabidopsis HKT1 gene homolog mediates inward Na+ currents in Xenopus laevis oocytes and Na+ uptake in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Plant Physiol 122:1249–1259
Vera-Estrella R, Barkla BJ, Garcia-Ramirez L, Pantoja O (2005) Salt stress in Thellungiella halophila activates Na+ transport mechanisms required for salinity tolerance. Plant Physiol 139:1507–1517
Walia H, Wilson C, Wahid A, Condamine P, Cui X, Close TJ (2006) Expression analysis of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) during salinity stress. Funct Integr Genomics 6(2):143–156
Westfall PH, Tobia RD, Rom D, Wolfinger RD, Hochberg Y (1996) Multiple comparisons of multiple tests using the SAS system. SAS Institute, Cary
Wilson C, Shannon MC (1995) Salt induced Na+/H+ antiport in root plasma membrane of a glycophytic and halophytic species of tomato. Plant Sci 107:147–157
Wu CA, Yang GD, Meng QW, Zheng CC (2004) The cotton GhNHX1 gene encoding a novel putative tonoplast Na+/H+ antiporter plays an important role in salt stress. Plant Cell Physiol 45:600–607
Yamaguchi T, Apse MP, Shi H, Blumwald E (2003) Topological analysis of a plant vacuolar Na+/H+ antiporter reveals a luminal C terminus that regulates antiporter cation selectivity. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100:12510–12515
Yamaguchi T, Aharon GS, Sottosanto JB, Blumwald E (2005) Vacuolar Na+/H+ antiporter cation selectivity is regulated by calmodulin from within the vacuole in a Ca2+- and pH-dependent manner. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102:16107–16112
Yang W-J, Rich PJ, Axtell JD, Wood KV, Bonham CC, Ejeta G, Mickelbart MV, Rhodes D (2003) Genotypic variation for glycine betaine in Sorghum bicolor. Crop Sci 43:162–169
Yanxiang S, Dan W, Yanling B, Ningning W, Yong W (2006) Studies on the overexpression of the soybean GmNHX1 in Lotus corniculatus: the reduced Na+ level is the basis of the increased salt tolerance. Chin Sci Bull 51:1306–1315
Yokoi S, Quintero FJ, Cubero B, Ruiz MT, Bressan RA, Hasegawa PM, Pardo JM (2002) Differential expression and function of Arabidopsis thaliana NHX Na+/H+ antiporters in the salt stress response. Plant J 30:529–539
Zhu JK (2002) Salt and drought stress signal transduction in plants. Annu Rev Plant Biol 53:247–273
Zhu H, Ding GH, Fang K, Zhao FG, Qin P (2006) New perspective on the mechanism of alleviating salt stress by spermidine in barley seedlings. Plant Growth Regul l49:147–156
Acknowledgments
We are very grateful to Prof. Kazuyoshi Takeda for kind provision of barley seeds, Prof. Isao Aoyama for permitting the use of the atomic absorption and flame emission spectrophotometer and for ion chromatography, and Mr. Hisao Nishizaki for technical assistance. This research was supported mainly by a postdoctoral fellowship awarded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (to A.L.) and partly by the Program for Promotion of Basic Research Activity for Innovative Bioscience (PROBRAIN, to M.K.).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Table S1
Primers used for cloning and gene expression analysis by real-time RT-PCR (PPT 63 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ligaba, A., Katsuhara, M. Insights into the salt tolerance mechanism in barley (Hordeum vulgare) from comparisons of cultivars that differ in salt sensitivity. J Plant Res 123, 105–118 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-009-0272-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-009-0272-2