Overexpression of HaASR1 from a Desert Shrub, Haloxylon ammodendron, Improved Salt Tolerance of Arabidopsis thaliana

Abstract

Salt stress causes reduced plant growth and alters the plant development process, resulting in a threat to global crop production. The exploring of unique genes conferring to salt tolerance from plants that inhabit extreme environments remains urgent. Haloxylon ammodendron is a desert xero-halophyte shrub with a strong tolerance to drought and salt stresses. We previously reported that the drought tolerance of Arabidopsis thaliana was improved by the overexpression of HaASR1 from H. ammodendron. In this work, the effects of HaASR1 overexpression on the salt tolerance of Arabidopsis were investigated. HaASR1 overexpression significantly enhanced the growth of Arabidopsis lines under salinity and plant tissue water content through enhancing the osmotic adjustment ability, maintaining the membrane integrity, improving the chlorophyll content and leaf area, and thereby enhancing photosynthesis capacity. Taken together, the overexpression of HaASR1 from H. ammodendron improved the salt tolerance of the transgenic lines of Arabidopsis. These results indicated that HaASR1 from H. ammodendron has potential application values in increasing the salt tolerance of grass and crop plants by genetic engineering.