Abstract
When exposed to salt, every plant takes up Na+ from the environment. Once in the symplast, Na+ is distributed within cells and between different tissues and organs. There it can help to lower the cellular water potential but also exert potentially toxic effects. Control of Na+ fluxes is therefore crucial and indeed, research shows that the divergence between salt tolerant and salt sensitive plants is not due to a variation in transporter types but rather originates in the control of uptake and internal Na+ fluxes. A number of regulatory mechanisms has been identified based on signaling of Ca2+, cyclic nucleotides, reactive oxygen species, hormones, or on transcriptional and post translational changes of gene and protein expression. This review will give an overview of intra- and intercellular movement of Na+ in plants and will summarize our current ideas of how these fluxes are controlled and regulated in the early stages of salt stress.
Highlights
Salinity, in the form of NaCl, is one of the main abiotic stresses that reduces plant growth and development
The existence of halophytic plants suggests that, at least in principle, crops can be adapted to grow in saline environments and a large effort has been spent over the past decades to pursue this strategy (Flowers et al, 1977)
Many cereal crops have salt tolerant ancestors which can be exploited in breeding programs
Summary
In the form of NaCl, is one of the main abiotic stresses that reduces plant growth and development. Saline soils are typically defined as soils with conductivity of 4 dS m−1 or more. Salinity has two major effects: a relative early osmotic stress and ionic stress, which is expressed after a longer period (Munns and Tester, 2008; Munns, 2010)
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