Toward a biophysical understanding of the salt stress response of individual plant cells

Abstract

We present and explore a kinetic model of ion transport across and between the membranes of an isolated plant cell with an emphasis on the cell's response to salt (Na+) stress. The vacuole, cytoplasm and apoplast are treated as concentric regions separated by tonoplast and plasma membranes. The model includes the transport of Na+, K+, Cl− and H+ across both membranes via primary active proton pumps, secondary active antiporters and symporters, as well as passive ion channels. In addition, water transport is included, allowing us to investigate both the osmotic and ionic components of salt stress. The model's predictions of steady state and transient cytosolic pH and Na+ concentrations were found to be quantitatively comparable to measured experimental values. Through an extensive simulation study we have identified and characterized scenarios in which individual transport processes (H+ pumps, Na+/H+ antiporters and channels involved in the transport of Na+) and their combinations have major effects on the level of Na+ in each of the cell compartments. This systematic study emulates the effects of overexpressing and inhibiting transporter genes by genetic modification and hence we have compared our simulations with observations from experiments conducted on transgenic plants. The simulations suggest that overexpressing tonoplast Na+/H+ antiporter genes and tonoplast H+ pump genes lead to an increase in the storage of Na+ in the vacuole (helping the cell to maintain water uptake under salt stress), with only a transient influence on the cytoplasmic Na+ concentration. The model predicts effects of varying the expression of transporter genes (individually or in combination) which have yet to be investigated in experiments. For example, our findings indicate that simultaneously overexpressing plasma membrane and tonoplast Na+/H+ antiporter genes would lead to improvements in both ionic and osmotic stress tolerance. The results demonstrate the importance of simultaneously modelling the transport of Na+ across both the tonoplast and plasma membrane, a task not undertaken previously.