Abstract
Agriculture needs solutions for adapting crops to increasing salinity globally. Research on physiological and molecular responses activated by salinity is needed to elucidate mechanisms of salinity tolerance. Transcriptome profiling (RNA-Seq) is a powerful tool to study the transcriptomic profile of genotypes under stress conditions. Persimmon species have different levels of tolerance to salinity, this variability may provide knowledge on persimmon species and development of salt--tolerant rootstocks. In this study, we conducted a physiological and transcriptomic profiling of roots and leaves in tolerant and sensitive plants of persimmon rootstock grown under saline and control conditions. Characterization of physiological responses along with gene expression changes in roots and leaves allowed the identification of several salt tolerance mechanisms related to ion transport and thermospermine synthesis. Differences were observed in putative H+/ATPases that allow transmembrane ionic transport and chloride channel protein-like genes. Furthermore, an overexpression of thermospermine synthase found in the roots of tolerant plants may indicate that alterations in root architecture could act as an additional mechanism of response to salt stress. These results indicate that Diospyros lotus L. exhibits genetically-controlled variability for salt tolerance traits which opens potential opportunities for breeding salt-tolerant persimmon rootstocks in a Mediterranean environment challenged by drought and salinity.
Highlights
IntroductionReduction of water availability and increase of salinity in soils and water reservoirs can limit crop production due to severe inhibition of plant growth and development via osmotic and ionic stresses [1,2]
Drought and salinity are two of the main challenges in agriculture
A full-sibling family of Diospyros lotus L. (DL) obtained from a cross between two D. lotus trees located at the Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA) persimmon germplasm bank was used in this study
Summary
Reduction of water availability and increase of salinity in soils and water reservoirs can limit crop production due to severe inhibition of plant growth and development via osmotic and ionic stresses [1,2]. The negative effect of salinity in photosynthesis is caused either by a reduction in available water, by the toxic accumulation of ions in the cell, or both. The cultivated surface affected by either stress increases year after year as a consequence of more frequent drought episodes associated to climate change. The Mediterranean basin registered a significant increase in salinity in soils and water reservoirs in the last 10 years [4]. There is a pressing need to find solutions to alleviate the negative impact on plant production in an area dominated by fruit tree crops
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