Thriving under Salinity: Growth, Ecophysiology and Proteomic Insights into the Tolerance Mechanisms of Obligate Halophyte Suaeda fruticosa

• Published in: Plants (Basel) Vol. 13; no. 11; p. 1529
• Main Authors: Gul, Bilquees, Hameed, Abdul, Ahmed, Muhammad Zaheer, Hussain, Tabassum, Rasool, Sarwat Ghulam, Nielsen, Brent L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 31-05-2024; MDPI
• Subjects: Accumulation; Amaranthaceae; Biomass; Carotenoids; Chlorophyll; Comparative analysis; Crops; Damage accumulation; Ecophysiology; Environmental aspects; Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid; Flowers & plants; Food security; Growth; halophyte; Halophytes; Homeostasis; Hydrogen peroxide; Hydroponics; ion homeostasis; Leaves; Moisture content; Nutrient deficiency; Osmotic potential; Oxidative stress; Parameters; Photosynthesis; Physiological aspects; Proteins; Proteomics; Salinity; Salinity effects; Salinity tolerance; Salt; Sodium chloride; Soils, Salts in; Statistics; Suaeda; Toxicity; Water content; Water relations; Germany; Pakistan; halophyte; ion homeostasis; water relations; proteomics; photosynthesis; oxidative stress
• DOI: 10.3390/plants13111529
• EISSN: 2223-7747

Studies on obligate halophytes combining eco-physiological techniques and proteomic analysis are crucial for understanding salinity tolerance mechanisms but are limited. We thus examined growth, water relations, ion homeostasis, photosynthesis, oxidative stress mitigation and proteomic responses of an obligate halophyte
to increasing salinity under semi-hydroponic culture. Most biomass parameters increased under moderate (300 mmol L
of NaCl) salinity, while high (900 mmol L
of NaCl) salinity caused some reduction in biomass parameters. Under moderate salinity, plants showed effective osmotic adjustment with concomitant accumulation of Na
in both roots and leaves. Accumulation of Na
did not accompany nutrient deficiency, damage to photosynthetic machinery and oxidative damage in plants treated with 300 mmol L
of NaCl. Under high salinity, plants showed further decline in sap osmotic potential with higher Na
accumulation that did not coincide with a decline in relative water content,
/
, and oxidative damage markers (H
O
and MDA). There were 22, 54 and 7 proteins in optimal salinity and 29, 46 and 8 proteins in high salinity treatment that were up-regulated, down-regulated or exhibited no change, respectively, as compared to control plants. These data indicate that biomass reduction in
at high salinity might result primarily from increased energetic cost rather than ionic toxicity.