Developing salt-tolerant crop plants: challenges and opportunities

Soil salinity, one of the major abiotic stresses reducing agricultural productivity, affects large terrestrial areas of the world; the need to produce salt-tolerant crops is evident. Two main approaches are being used to improve salt tolerance: (i) the exploitation of natural genetic variations, either through direct selection in stressful environments or through mapping quantitative trait loci and subsequent marker-assisted selection; and (ii) the generation of transgenic plants to introduce novel genes or to alter expression levels of the existing genes to affect the degree of salt stress tolerance. Here, we discuss the challenges and opportunities provided by recently developed functional tools for the development of salt-tolerant crops.     

马铃薯耐盐性的研究进展

土壤盐渍化已是影响全球农业生产和土地资源可持续利用的主要问题之一。近些年马铃薯的种植面积不断扩大,比重逐年上升,而马铃薯却是一种对盐中度敏感的作物,盐渍化对其造成严重的危害,因此研究马铃薯的耐盐性势在必行。本文对国内外马铃薯耐盐性筛选、生长发育、生理生化特性、耐盐途径、转基因耐盐马铃薯的研究及其二倍体马铃薯种质资源的利用和展望进行了综述。     

Microbial ACC-Deaminase: Prospects and Applications for Inducing Salt Tolerance in Plants

Salinity is one of the most important stresses that hamper agricultural productivity in nearly every part of the world. Enhanced biosynthesis of ethylene in plants under salinity stress is well established. Higher ethylene concentration inhibits root growth and ultimately affects the overall plant growth. Overcoming this ethylene-induced root inhibition is a prerequisite for successful crop production. Recent studies have shown that ethylene level in plants is regulated by a key enzyme 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylicacid (ACC)-deaminase. This enzyme is present in plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPR) and lowers the ethylene level by metabolizing its precursor ACC into α-ketobutyrate and ammonia (NH₃). Inoculation of plants under salinity stress with PGPR having ACC-deaminase activity mitigates the inhibitory effects of salinity on root growth by lowering the ethylene concentration in the plant. This in turn results in prolific root growth, which is beneficial for the uptake of nutrients and maintenance of growth under stressful environment. The present review critically discusses the effects of salinity stress on plant growth with special reference to ethylene production and the effects of rhizobacteria containing ACC-deaminase on crop improvement under salinity stress. It also discusses how much progress has been made in producing transgenic lines of different crops over-expressing the gene encoding ACC-deaminase and how far such transformed lines can tolerate salinity stress.     

PGPR regulate caspase-like activity,programmed cell death,and antioxidant enzyme activity in paddy under salinity

The response of two root associated bacteria Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes and Bacillus pumilus were studied in the (salt-sensitive) rice GJ17 cultivar to salinity under controlled environmental growth conditions for protection of plant from adverse effect of salinity. Salinity affects the growth of salt-sensitive cultivar, but inoculation of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) reduces the harmful effect of salinity. The present study states that PGPR helps to reduce lipid peroxidation and superoxide dismutase activity in salt-sensitive GJ17 cultivar under salinity and play an important role in the growth regulation for positive adaptation of plants to salt stress. This study shows that inoculation of paddy (Oryza sativa) with such bacteria could provide salt-tolerant ability by reducing the toxicity of reactive oxygen species by reducing plant cell membrane index, cell caspase-like protease activity, and programmed cell death and hence resulted in increase cell viability. As these isolates remain associated with the roots, the effects of tolerance against salinity are observed here. Results also indicate that isolated PGPR strain help in alleviating up to 1.5 % salinity stress as well as improve tolerance.     

Plant salt-tolerance mechanism: A review

Almost all crops that are important to humans are sensitive to high salt concentration in the soil. The presence of salt in soil is one of the most significant abiotic stresses in farming. Therefore, improving plant salt tolerance and increasing the yield and quality of crops in salty land is vital. Transgenic technology is a fast and effective method to obtain salt-tolerant varieties. At present, many scholars have studied salt damage to plant and plant salt-tolerance mechanism. These scholars have cloned a number of salt-related genes and achieved high salt tolerance for transgenic plants, thereby showing attractive prospects.In this paper, the salt-tolerance mechanism of plants is described from four aspects: plant osmotic stress, ion toxicity, oxidative stress, and salt tolerance genes. This review may help in studies to reveal the mechanism of plant salt tolerance, screen high efficiency and quality salt tolerance crops.     

Microbial amelioration of crop salinity stress

The use of soil and irrigation water with a high content of soluble salts is a major limiting factor for crop productivity in the semi-arid areas of the world. While important physiological insights about the mechanisms of salt tolerance in plants have been gained, the transfer of such knowledge into crop improvement has been limited. The identification and exploitation of soil microorganisms (especially rhizosphere bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi) that interact with plants by alleviating stress opens new alternatives for a pyramiding strategy against salinity, as well as new approaches to discover new mechanisms involved in stress tolerance. Although these mechanisms are not always well understood, beneficial physiological effects include improved nutrient and water uptake, growth promotion, and alteration of plant hormonal status and metabolism. This review aims to evaluate the beneficial effects of soil biota on the plant response to saline stress, with special reference to phytohormonal signalling mechanisms that interact with key physiological processes to improve plant tolerance to the osmotic and toxic components of salinity. Improved plant nutrition is a quite general beneficial effect and may contribute to the maintenance of homeostasis of toxic ions under saline stress. Furthermore, alteration of crop hormonal status to decrease evolution of the growth-retarding and senescence-inducing hormone ethylene (or its precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid), or to maintain source-sink relations, photosynthesis, and biomass production and allocation (by altering indole-3-acetic acid and cytokinin biosynthesis) seem to be promising target processes for soil biota-improved crop salt tolerance.     

Improving salinity tolerance in crop plants: a biotechnological view

Salinity limits the production capabilities of agricultural soils in large areas of the world. Both breeding and screening germplasm for salt tolerance encounter the following limitations: (a) different phenotypic responses of plants at different growth stages, (b) different physiological mechanisms, (c) complicated genotype × environment interactions, and (d) variability of the salt-affected field in its chemical and physical soil composition. Plant molecular and physiological traits provide the bases for efficient germplasm screening procedures through traditional breeding, molecular breeding, and transgenic approaches. However, the quantitative nature of salinity stress tolerance and the problems associated with developing appropriate and replicable testing environments make it difficult to distinguish salt-tolerant lines from sensitive lines. In order to develop more efficient screening procedures for germplasm evaluation and improvement of salt tolerance, implementation of a rapid and reliable screening procedure is essential. Field selection for salinity tolerance is a laborious task; therefore, plant breeders are seeking reliable ways to assess the salt tolerance of plant germplasm. Salt tolerance in several plant species may operate at the cellular level, and glycophytes are believed to have special cellular mechanisms for salt tolerance. Ion exclusion, ion sequestration, osmotic adjustment, macromolecule protection, and membrane transport system adaptation to saline environments are important strategies that may confer salt tolerance to plants. Cell and tissue culture techniques have been used to obtain salt tolerant plants employing two in vitro culture approaches. The first approach is selection of mutant cell lines from cultured cells and plant regeneration from such cells (somaclones). In vitro screening of plant germplasm for salt tolerance is the second approach, and a successful employment of this method in durum wheat is presented here. Doubled haploid lines derived from pollen culture of F₁ hybrids of salt-tolerant parents are promising tools to further improve salt tolerance of plant cultivars. Enhancement of resistance against both hyper-osmotic stress and ion toxicity may also be achieved via molecular breeding of salt-tolerant plants using either molecular markers or genetic engineering.     

驯化对作物微生物组多样性和群落结构的影响及作用途径

植物与共存微生物的相互作用对植物的生长、发育、健康等具有重大影响。人类驯化导致现代作物品种与其野生祖先在生理遗传特性、生长环境等方面存在明显差异, 这必然会影响作物与其微生物组的相互作用。理解驯化对作物微生物组的影响及其作用机理, 是充分应用微生物组进行作物改良或人工育种的重要理论基础。结合课题组前期研究基础, 该文综述了驯化对作物地下和地上部分细菌和真菌(尤其是益生菌和病原菌)群落组成和多样性影响的研究现状; 并结合驯化对作物植株形态、根系构型、根系分泌物等生理特征以及生长环境的影响, 分析了驯化塑造作物微生物组的作用途径, 提出了该领域值得重点关注的研究和发展方向。     

甘油代谢对杜氏盐藻盐耐受性的调节

杜氏盐藻是迄今发现的世界上最耐盐的单细胞真核生物,能在0.05 mol/L至饱和NaCl浓度下正常生长,因此其耐盐机制倍受人们关注。研究发现,杜氏盐藻盐耐受性与甘油代谢密切相关。为此,我们综述其耐盐机制、甘油代谢调控、甘油代谢与盐耐受性关联性、甘油代谢重要酶的分子生物学研究等进展,希望对深入研究植物耐盐机制、培育耐盐作物新品种及开发甘油等高附加值次生代谢产物等研究提供有益帮助。     

Mycorrhiza and Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria: Potential Bioagents for Sustainable Phosphorus Management in Agriculture

Phosphorus (P) is a critical nutrient that plays an essential role in improving soil fertility for optimum plant growth and productivity. It is one of the most deficient macro-nutrients in agricultural soils after nitrogen and is considered inadequate for plant growth and production. To P availability in soils, the farmers are applying huge amounts of synthetic P fertilizers that adversely affect the wider environment, groundwater, soil fertility and microbial population. Many beneficial microbes are known to release and supply soluble P for improving growth and yield of a variety of plants in a sustainable manner in P deficient soils. Thus, inoculation of these microbes, including arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) to soil to enhance crop production without harming the environment, is an alternative approach to chemical fertilizers. The combined role of AMF and PSB in P solubilization is not well understood and the application and mode of action of these microbial groups are often naive due to variation in the environment. Therefore, the current review article would develop a better understanding of the interactive role and mechanisms of AMF and PSB in improving P availability from both organic and inorganic sources in a sustainable crop production system. Finally, the current review would loop out further avenues for researchers interested to commercially produce effective AMF and PSB-based biofertilizers for sustainable management of phosphorus over a wide range of agricultural crops worldwide.     

丛枝菌根（AM）生物技术在现代农业体系中的生态意义

菌根是植物根系与特定的土壤真菌形成的共生体,有利于生态系统中养分循环,协助植物抵御不良环境胁迫．自然条件下,大多数植物表现一定的菌根依赖性,在植株根系发育过程中如能与适宜的菌根真菌形成良好的菌根结构,可提高产量,改善品质,其中丛枝菌根是最普遍的类型．丛枝菌根帮助植物抵御不良环境胁迫及病虫害,促进植物健康生长,可减少化学肥料、杀虫剂施用量,以减少对环境、生态不利的化学物质施用量．丛枝菌根共生体可加速根系生长,提高对移动性低的无机离子吸收,加速养分循环利用,增强植物对不良胁迫(生物与非生物)因素的耐受力,形成良好的土壤结构,提高植物群体的多样性．文章综述了丛枝菌根真菌生态特征,丛枝菌根对寄主植物的影响,丛枝菌根生物技术应用于农业体系的生态意义及其应用潜力．     

Growth response of Atriplex nummularia to inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi at different salinity levels

Chenopods are generally regarded as non-host plants for mycorrhizal fungi and are believed not to benefit from colonization by mycorrhizal fungi. Perennial Atriplex nummularia Lindl., growing under field conditions, showed a relatively high level of colonization by mycorrhizal fungi (10–30% of root length colonized) in spring and summer. Accordingly, two glasshouse experiments were designed to assess the effects of inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi (with a single species or a mixture of different species) on growth, nutrient uptake, and rhizosphere bacterial community composition of A. nummularia at high and low salinity levels (2.2 and 12 dSm^–1). Only low and patchy colonization by mycorrhizal fungi (1–2 of root length colonized) was detected in inoculated plants under glasshouse conditions which was unaffected by salinity. Despite the low colonization, inoculation increased plant growth and affected nutrient uptake at both salinity levels. The effects were higher at an early stage of plant development (6weeks) than at a later stage (9–10 weeks). Salinity affected the bacterial community composition in the rhizosphere as examined by ribosomal intergenic spacer amplification (RISA) of 16S rDNA, digitization of the band patterns and multivariate analysis. The effects of inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi on growth of A. nummularia may be attributed to (i) direct effects of mycorrhizal fungi on plant nutrient uptake and/or (ii) indirect effects via mycorrhizal-induced changes in the bacterial community composition.     

植物耐盐研究进展

综述了盐胁迫对植物的损伤和其中的各种生理生化过程,以及植物在抵抗盐胁迫过程中的耐盐机理。新的研究成果表明,植物自身的miRNA可能在植物抗逆境过程中起到了重要作用,甲基化过程参与了抗逆境相关的甜菜碱等小分子有机物质的合成。     

种植盐地碱蓬改良滨海盐渍土对土壤微生物区系的影响

利用盐生植物盐地碱蓬对天津河口滨海盐碱地进行生物修复,研究了其对土壤微生物区系的影响.结果表明,种植区碱蓬根系土壤的可溶性盐分与对照土壤相比下降了41%（重量法）和37%（电导法）;根系土壤的微生物数量明显增加,其中细菌、放线菌和真菌分别较对照增加了2.3倍、4.3倍和71倍,与对照相比均为显著性差异.根系微生物的耐盐性结果显示,随着土壤盐分的降低,根系微生物生长的最适盐度也随之降低,耐盐性较低的微生物种群已逐渐成为优势种群.系统发育分析表明,枯草杆菌属成为植物修复后土壤中的优势种群.     

番茄的耐盐性与耐盐转基因番茄

由于土壤盐渍化的日益加剧导致作物大量减产,通过基因工程的方法将耐盐基因转入作物,培育耐盐作物新品种是开发利用盐碱地的一种经济、有效的手段.番茄是一种栽培广泛,具有重要经济价值的蔬菜,又是基因工程的模式生物之一,开展番茄耐盐性研究具有重要意义.分析了番茄的耐盐性和转耐盐基因番茄的研究现状.     

Plant microbiota modified by plant domestication

Human life became largely dependent on agricultural products after distinct crop-domestication events occurred around 10,000 years ago in different geographical sites. Domestication selected suitable plants for human agricultural practices with unexpected consequences on plant microbiota, which has notable effects on plant growth and health. Among other traits, domestication has changed root architecture, exudation, or defense responses that could have modified plant microbiota. Here we present the comparison of reported data on the microbiota from widely consumed cereals and legumes and their ancestors showing that different bacteria were found in domesticated and wild plant microbiomes in some cases. Considering the large variability in plant microbiota, adequate sampling efforts and function-based approaches are needed to further support differences between the microbiota from wild and domesticated plants. The study of wild plant microbiomes could provide a valuable resource of unexploited beneficial bacteria for crops.     

植物抗盐分子机制及作物遗传改良耐盐性的研究进展

盐胁迫是全球农业生产上的一个主要逆境因子。解析耐盐分子机制有助于培育耐盐能力提高的作物新品种。我们综述了植物对盐胁迫的感应及信号传导、主要Na^＋运输体、盐胁迫下的解毒途径以及耐盐途径中涉及到的表观遗传研究。此外,我们还讨论了利用遗传改良手段提高作物耐盐性的研究进展。