Abstract
Salinity is a major abiotic stress limiting growth and productivity of plants in many areas of the world due to increasing use of poor quality of water for irrigation and soil salinization. Plant adaptation or tolerance to salinity stress involves complex physiological traits, metabolic pathways, and molecular or gene networks. A comprehensive understanding on how plants respond to salinity stress at different levels and an integrated approach of combining molecular tools with physiological and biochemical techniques are imperative for the development of salt-tolerant varieties of plants in salt-affected areas. Recent research has identified various adaptive responses to salinity stress at molecular, cellular, metabolic, and physiological levels, although mechanisms underlying salinity tolerance are far from being completely understood. This paper provides a comprehensive review of major research advances on biochemical, physiological, and molecular mechanisms regulating plant adaptation and tolerance to salinity stress.
Highlights
A major challenge towards world agriculture involves production of 70% more food crop for an additional 2.3 billion people by 2050 worldwide [1]
Application of exogenous polyamine has been found to increases the level of endogenous polyamine during stress; the positive effects of polyamines have been associated with the maintenance of membrane integrity, regulation of gene expression for the synthesis of osmoticallyactive solutes, reduction in reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and controlling accumulation of Na+ and Cl− ion in different organs [123,124,125,126,127,128,129,130]
Taking advantage of the latest advancements in the field of genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic techniques, plant biologists are focusing on the development of a complete profile of genes, proteins, and metabolites responsible for different mechanisms of salinity tolerance in different plant species
Summary
A major challenge towards world agriculture involves production of 70% more food crop for an additional 2.3 billion people by 2050 worldwide [1]. One of the most detrimental effects of salinity stress is the accumulation of Na+ and Cl− ions in tissues of plants exposed to soils with high NaCl concentrations. Entry of both Na+ and Cl− into the cells causes severe ion imbalance and excess uptake might cause significant physiological disorder(s). Genetic variations and differential responses to salinity stress in plants differing in stress tolerance enable plant biologists to identify physiological mechanisms, sets of genes, and gene products that are involved in increasing stress tolerance and to incorporate them in suitable species to yield salt tolerant varieties. The main aim of this review is to discuss research advances on the complex physiological and molecular mechanisms that are involved in plant salinity tolerance
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