Salt and drought stress signal transduction consists of ionic and osmotic homeostasis signaling pathways, detoxification (i.e., damage control and repair) response pathways, and pathways for growth regulation. The ionic aspect of salt stress is signaled via the SOS pathway where a calcium-responsive SOS3-SOS2 protein kinase complex controls the expression and activity of ion transporters such a...

The Arabidopsis AINTEGUMENTA (ANT) gene, which encodes an APETALA2 (AP2)-like transcription factor, controls plant organ cell number and organ size throughout shoot development. ANT is thus a key factor in the development of plant shoots. Here, we have found that ANT plays an essential role in conferring salt tolerance in Arabidopsis. ant-knockout mutants presented a salt-tolerant phenotype, wh...

Elevated sodium (Na) decreases plant growth and, thereby, agricultural productivity. The ion transporter high-affinity K transporter (HKT)1 controls Na import in roots, yet dysfunction or overexpression of HKT1 fails to increase salt tolerance, raising questions as to HKT1’s role in regulating Na homeostasis. Here, we report that tissuespecific regulation of HKT1 by the soil bacterium Bacillus ...

The initiation of flowering in Arabidopsis is retarded or abolished by environmental stresses. Focusing on salt stress, we provide a molecular explanation for this well-known fact. A protein complex consisting of GI, a clock component important for flowering and SOS2, a kinase activating the [Na(+)] antiporter SOS1, exists under no stress conditions. GI prevents SOS2 from activating SOS1. In th...

Twelve alfalfa genotypes that were selected for biomass under salinity, differences in Na and Cl concentrations in shoots and K/Na ratio were evaluated in this long-term salinity experiment. The selected plants were cloned to reduce genetic variability within each genotype. Salt tolerance (ST) index of the genotypes ranged from 0.39 to 1. The most salt-tolerant genotypes SISA14-1 (G03) and AZ-9...

Forward genetics and biochemical approaches to studying plant responses to salt, water and cold stresses began to bear fruit recently. Analysis of salt overly sensitive (sos) Arabidopsis mutants revealed a novel calcium-regulated protein kinase pathway for response to the ionic aspect of salt stress. In-gel kinase assays identified several SOS-independent protein kinases that are either activat...

Genes that enable crops to limit Na(+) accumulation in shoot tissues represent potential sources of salinity tolerance for breeding. In barley, the HvNax4 locus lowered shoot Na(+) content by between 12% and 59% (g(-1) DW), or not at all, depending on the growth conditions in hydroponics and a range of soil types, indicating a strong influence of environment on expression. HvNax4 was fine-mappe...