Puccinellia Research Articles

Untargeted Metabolome Analyses Revealed Potential Metabolic Mechanisms of Leymus chinensis in Response to Simulated Animal Feeding.

Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvel., also known as the "Alkali Grass", is a major forage grass in the eastern and northeastern steppe vegetation in the Songnen Prairie. It is of great practical significance for grassland management to understand the influence of animal saliva on L. chinensis during animal feeding. In this study, we used clipping and daubing animal saliva to simulate responses to grazing by L. chinensis, and analyzed the physiological and metabolomic changes in response to simulated animal feeding. Results showed that the effects of animal saliva on physiological and metabolic processes of the treated plants produced a recovery phenomenon. Moreover, the effects of animal saliva produced a large number of differential metabolites related to several known metabolic pathways, among which the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway has undergone significant and persistent changes. We posit that the potential metabolic mechanisms of L. chinensis in response to simulated animal feeding are closely related to flavonoid biosynthesis.

Responses of Alkali Grass (Puccinellia ciliata Bor) Genotypes to Geothermal Water

The increasing use of geothermal resources for generating electrical energy has brought the negative impact of geothermal fluids on the surrounding agricultural areas in Turkey. Alkali grass is one of the halophyte plant species that is spreading in marginal areas such as waterlogged, excessively alkaline and salty. We conducted the study to test the response of alkali grass genotypes to geothermal and mineral water used as irrigation water. Geothermal water negatively affected the observed traits by 14.01% (panicle length) and 64.21% (seed yield). The number of tillers per plant for biomass and the number of panicles per plant and plant height for seed yield were the determinant traits. Genotypes XII and XI were determined as seed-type, whereas genotypes IX and VIII were determined as biomass-type according to the Biplot graph.

Environmentally friendly comprehensive recycling utilization technology of foundation engineering slurry

A set of environmentally friendly comprehensive recycling utilization technology was developed to occupy fewer land resources and realize the recycling of engineering slurry. In this study, the engineering slurry was divided into circulating and waste slurries. The technology of “desanding plus reusing of purified slurry and drill cuttings” can be adopted to the circulating slurry, and the technology of “lowering calcium concentration, pH control, flocculation separation, pressure filtration and recycling of wastewater and mud cakes” can be adapted to the waste slurry. For the purified slurry and drill cuttings obtained from the circulating slurry, the former can be directly recycled in foundation engineering, and the latter can be directly used to cultivate grass seeds, with an average germination rate of 62.22%. Wastewater and mud cakes were collected from the flocculating substances after pressure filtration. With the addition of 2% sodium bicarbonate, the wastewater satisfied the mud-making requirements of foundation engineering. Moreover, mud cakes mixed with 30–60% nutrient soil can be used to cultivate grass, with an average germination rate of 72%. The germination rate of Phi alkali grass exceeded 80% in a field trial with drill cuttings from an underground diaphragm wall project, whereas that of ryegrass and slope king grass was 100% with drill cuttings from a geothermal well project. This method can realize the comprehensive recycling utilization of all drill cuttings (or mud cakes) and purified slurry (or wastewater).

Yeast Functional Screen to Determine cDNAs of European Alkali Grass (Puccinellia distans) Conferring Selenium (Se) Toxicity

Yeast Functional Screen to Determine cDNAs of European Alkali Grass (Puccinellia distans) Conferring Selenium (Se) Toxicity

Forest Steppe-Like Vegetation Near Cherskiy (West Beringia) During the Early Pleistocene Olyorian Period Reconstructed Using Plant Macrofossils

The lower Kolyma region is known for rich Early Olyorian large mammal assemblages including plesiomorphic musk ox, reindeer, horse, broad-fronted moose, steppe mammoth and cave bear. Data on the vegetation in zonal habitats from the Olyorian period are, in contrast, scarce. Earlier palynological results from classical Olyorian sites indicated predominant grassland vegetation with scattered larch occurrences but are, due to limited taxonomical resolution, uncertain. Plant macrofossil data were, so far, only available from azonal, aquatic habitats. Here, we describe Olyorian palaeo-vegetation from an exposure near Cherskiy, Nizhnekolymsky District, Sakha Republic, Russia. The macrofossil-based reconstruction of palaeo-vegetation revealed the existence of an open forest steppe comprising a mosaic of sparse larch groves in a dry grassland composed of tundra steppes, degraded meadow steppes and saline meadows. In the larch groves, light demanding shrubs and dwarf shrubs such as shrub birch (Betula cf. fruticosa, B. nana ssp. exilis), raspberry (Rubus idaeus), cowberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea), and crowberry (Empetrum nigrum) formed the understory. Ruderal pioneer plants point to open ground as result of disturbances, possibly due to the activity of large herbivores. The nitrophytic ruderal species Urtica dioica, in particular, suggests locally increased nutrient supply from animal excretions. Also, the abundant remains of Chenopodium cf. prostratum might be explained by disturbances and nutrient enrichment, but Chenopodium is also characteristic of salt accumulation in the soil owing to high evaporation under arid conditions, which are also indicated by alkali grass (Puccinellia sp.). The presence of trees and shrubs indicates interglacial-like temperature conditions but the dominance of dry grassland species and the occurrence of facultatively halophytic plants (Chenopodium prostratum, Puccinellia sp.) suggests aridity, which is more typical of cold stages. During the early Pleistocene, i.e., prior to the Early-Middle Pleistocene transition (EMPT) culminating around 900 ka ago, the duration of climate cycles was shorter and the amplitude of climate fluctuations was smaller. Ice-rich permafrost formed only after the EMPT during increasingly extreme cold stages, and, during warm stages, its thawing resulted in paludification of the active layer. Prior to the EMPT, the climate in West Beringia was constantly relatively dry, more or less moderate and more stable than thereafter. In contrast to modern tundra and northern taiga in the study region, dry habitats apparently prevailed during the time of deposition of the plant macro-remains.

Transcriptomic analysis of selenium accumulation in Puccinellia distans (Jacq.) Parl., a boron hyperaccumulator.

Selenium (Se) is present in a wide variety of natural and man-made materials on Earth. Plants are able to tolerate and (hyper)accumulate Se to different extents. In fact, some species can tolerate and accumulate multiple elements. Puccinellia distans (P.distans), weeping alkali grass, is known to hyperaccumulate extreme concentrations of boron and tolerate high levels of salinity, therefore, we investigated the Se accumulation and tolerance capacities of this species. In addition, P.distans' Se tolerance mechanism was studied using a transcriptomic approach. The results of this study indicated that, when grown in a hydroponic system containing 80 or 120μM Se, P.distans shoots accumulated from 1500 to 2500-fold more Se than plants grown without the element. Thus, P.distans was discovered to be a novel Se accumulator plant. RNA sequencing results and biochemical analyses helped to shed light on the Se tolerance and accumulation mechanism of P.distans. Here, we suggest that upregulation of Se assimilation and stress response genes may be due to induction of jasmonic acid signaling. In addition, we propose that the cell wall may play an important role in restriction of Se movement to the cytoplasm. Also, we hypothesize that Se accumulates in cells by sequestration of selenate in the vacuole.

Effect of nitrogen and phosphorus on alleviation of boron toxicity in Puccinellia tenuiflora under the combined stresses of salt and drought

High boron (B) often occurs in saline and arid soils and exerts toxicity to plants. A potting experiment was conducted to examine the effects of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) on alleviating B toxicity in an alkali grass, Puccinellia tenuiflora, in saline and arid soils. As a B-tolerant species, P. tenuiflora grew well in soil with high concentration (300 mg kg−1) of B under the combined stresses of salt and drought. N and P have significantly increased plant biomass and decreased B concentrations in plants by 14.5%–31.4% in the shoot and 22.3%–41.5% in the root, respectively. The results indicate that the addition of fertilizer enforced photosynthesis of plant and decreased K+/Na+ ratio. Our results suggest that N and P can be used to alleviate B toxicity in P. tenuiflora under the combined stresses of salt and drought.

Transcriptomic analysis of boron hyperaccumulation mechanisms in Puccinellia distans

Puccinellia distans, common alkali grass, is found throughout the world and can survive in soils with boron concentrations that are lethal for other plant species. Indeed, P. distans accumulates very high levels of this element. Despite these interesting features, very little research has been performed to elucidate the boron tolerance mechanism in this species. In this study, P. distans samples were treated for three weeks with normal (0.5 mg L−1) and elevated (500 mg L−1) boron levels in hydroponic solution. Expressed sequence tags (ESTs) derived from shoot tissue were analyzed by RNA sequencing to identify genes up and down-regulated under boron stress. In this way, 3312 differentially expressed transcripts were detected, 67.7% of which were up-regulated and 32.3% of which were down-regulated in boron-treated plants. To partially confirm the RNA sequencing results, 32 randomly selected transcripts were analyzed for their expression levels in boron-treated plants. The results agreed with the expected direction of change (up or down-regulation). A total of 1652 transcripts had homologs in A. thaliana and/or O. sativa and mapped to 1107 different proteins. Functional annotation of these proteins indicated that the boron tolerance and hyperaccumulation mechanisms of P. distans involve many transcriptomic changes including: alterations in the malate pathway, changes in cell wall components that may allow sequestration of excess boron without toxic effects, and increased expression of at least one putative boron transporter and two putative aquaporins. Elucidation of the boron accumulation mechanism is important in developing approaches for bioremediation of boron contaminated soils.

The Evaluation of Alkali Grass (Puccinellia ciliata Bor) Populations in Aydin Province of Turkey

Alkali grass grows in waterlogged, saline and alaline soils. The main problem in these soils is minerals at toxic level. The toxic ions are chloride, sodium and boron. A number of techniques have been investigated for removing toxic metals from the soil. Today, the cost-effective and environmentally technique is phytoremediation, using hyperaccumulator plants. Alkali grass (Puccinellia ciliata Bor) is suggested as a hyperaccumulator plant by the combination of more favourable characteristics with salt and waterlogging tolerance, high biomass value and convincing nutritive value for adverse environmental conditions. For this reason, we collected alkali grass and soil samples from five different locations in Aydın-Muğla highway, Turanlar and Sınırteke villages in Germencik-Aydın. In the soil analysis, we observed that K accumulation varies between root, shoot and panicle at least whereas Na and B shows more variation on whole plant portions among locations. Intense aerenchyma development on the root tips of Puccinellia plant was observed and it is determined as radial lysogenic aerenchyma formation. Average plant height and dry matter values were between 47.2-74.4 cm and 15.61-80.85 g/plant according to locations. The highest plant height value was obtained from the first location whereas the highest dry matter yield was detected in the fifth location. In conclusion, plants from fifth location can be regarded as fodder plants in these areas. Our results indicated that alkali grass can be effective for phytoextraction of sodium and boron from contaminated sites.

Scale-dependent effects of grazing on the species richness of alkaline and sand grasslands

Extensively managed pastures harbour rare and endangered species and have a decisive role in maintaining grassland biodiversity. Traditional herding of local robust cattle breeds is considered as a feasible tool for preserving these habitats. We studied the scale-dependent effects of grazing on the species richness and composition of three dry grassland types in the Great Hungarian Plain: Achilleo setaceae-Festucetum pseudovinae and Artemisio santonici-Festucetum pseudovinae alkaline grasslands, and Potentillo arenariae-Festucetum pseudovinae sand grassland. We asked the following questions: (1) Does extensive grazing have a scale-dependent effect on plant species richness of alkaline and sand grasslands? (2) How does grazing affect the proportion of specialists, generalists and weeds in the three grassland types? We sampled ten sites of each grassland type, including five extensively grazed and five non-grazed sites (altogether we had 30 sites). We used a series of nested plots each consisting of 10 plots from the size of 0.01 m² to 16 m². We revealed that grazing has contrasting effects in the three grassland types, and had a considerable effect on their species richness even at small scales. In both alkaline grassland types, total species richness was overall higher in grazed plots but it increased in a similar manner for both ungrazed and grazed habitats across plot sizes. Small-scale heterogeneity likely due to the uneven distribution of grazing, trampling and defecation together with mitigated rate of competition allowed more species to co-exist even at small scales in grazed alkaline grasslands. Grazing increased the richness of specialists, but likely due to the salt stress, establishment of weeds was hampered. Open gaps formed by trampling likely supported the establishment of several specialist species such as Plantago tenuiflora and Puccinellia limosa which are typical to open alkali grasslands. Contrary, in sand grasslands, we did not detect any effect of grazing on total species richness, likely due to the adverse effect of grazing on the species richness of specialists and weeds. In contrast with the former findings we detected significantly higher species richness in 0.01 m² and 0.0625 m² plots in the grazed sand grasslands, but found no differences at larger scales. Whilst species richness of specialists was significantly decreased, richness of weeds was increased by grazing. Decrease in the specialist species richness was likely due to the lack of their evolutionary adaptation to grazing. Degradation caused by grazing and trampling together with the propagule pressure from the neighbouring anthropo-genic habitats resulted in an increased richness of weeds in the grazed sites.

Growth and ion accumulation responses of four grass species to salinity

ABSTRACTIon inclusion or ion exclusion are the two main strategies developed by plants to tolerate saline environments. Shoot sodium (Na+), potassium (K+), and calcium (Ca2+) in four perennial grass species (tall wheatgrass, Nuttall's alkaligrass, creeping foxtail, and switchgrass) treated with nutrient solution salinity levels ranging from 2 to 32 dS m−1 were measured. As the nutrient solution salinity was increased from 2 to 10 dS m−1, tall wheatgrass, creeping foxtail and Nuttall's alkali grass had increased shoot Na+ and decreased Ca2+ concentration while maintaining growth suggesting that these species tolerated these changes in shoot ion concentration. In contrast, switchgrass excluded Na+ from the shoot and maintained K+ and Ca2+ concentrations but suffered dramatic shoot dry weight reduction. Thus, the Na+ exclusion mechanisms present in switchgrass were less efficient in maintaining growth under the 10 dS m−1 nutrient solution treatment than the Na+ inclusion mechanisms used by the other three species.

Chilling-responsive mechanisms in halophyte Puccinellia tenuiflora seedlings revealed from proteomics analysis

Alkali grass (Puccinellia tenuiflora), a monocotyledonous perennial halophyte species, is a good pasture with great nutritional value for livestocks. It can thrive under low temperature in the saline-alkali soil of Songnen plain in northeastern China. In the present study, the chilling-responsive mechanism in P. tenuiflora leaves was investigated using physiological and proteomic approaches. After treatment of 10°C for 10 and 20days, photosynthesis, biomass, contents of osmolytes and antioxidants, and activities of reactive oxygen species scavenging enzymes were analyzed in leaves of 20-day-old seedlings. Besides, 89 chilling-responsive proteins were revealed from proteomic analysis. All the results highlighted that the growth of seedlings was inhibited due to chilling-decreased enzymes in photosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, and energy supplying. The accumulation of osmolytes (i.e., proline, soluble sugar, and glycine betaine) and enhancement of ascorbate–glutathione cycle and glutathione peroxidase/glutathione S-transferase pathway in leaves could minimize oxidative damage of membrane and other molecules under the chilling conditions. In addition, protein synthesis and turnover in cytoplasm and chloroplast were altered to cope with the chilling stress. This study provides valuable information for understanding the chilling-responsive and cross-tolerant mechanisms in monocotyledonous halophyte plant species.

Rainfall fluctuations and vegetation patterns in alkali grasslands - using self-organizing maps to visualise vegetation dynamics

Knowledge about the drivers of vegetation dynamics in grasslands is fundamental to select appro-priate management for conservation purposes. In this study, we provide a detailed analysis of vegeta-tion dynamics in alkali grasslands, a priority habitat of the Natura 2000 network. We studied vegetation dynamics in five stands of four alkali grassland types in the Hortobagy National Park (eastern Hunga-ry), between 2009 and 2011. We analysed the effect of fluctuations in precipitation on both the overall vegetation composition and on the cover of each species using Self Organizing Map neural networks (SOM). We found that SOM is a promising tool to reveal plant community dynamics. As we analysed species cover and overall vegetation composition separately, we were able to identify the species re-sponsible for particular vegetation changes. Fluctuations in precipitation (a dry season, followed by a wet and an average season) caused quick shifts in plant species composition because of an increasing cover of halophyte forbs, probably because of salinisation. We observed a similar effect of stress from waterlogging in all studied grassland types. The species composition of Puccinellia grasslands was the most stable over the three years with varying precipitation. This was important as this grassland type contained many threatened halophyte species. Self-organising maps revealed small-scale vegetation changes and provided a detailed visualisation of short-term vegetation dynamics, thus we suggest that the application of this method is also promising to reveal community dynamics in more species-rich habitat types or landscapes.

A climatic relict or a long distance disperser: conservation genetics of an Arctic disjunct polyploid plant

The Primula sibirica group is a set of approximately a dozen Arctic, taxonomically unrelated plant species that share a similar disjunct distribution on the shores of the Arctic Ocean and the northernmost part of the Baltic Sea. The origin of this phylogeographic pattern is not known. It has been suggested, first, that the species arrived after the last glaciation from the White Sea, second, that they are relicts of once larger populations or, third, that they arrived via jump dispersal. One of the species is the polyploid Creeping alkali grass, Puccinellia phryganodes, which is critically endangered in Finland. Here we used microsatellite markers to study seven extant and three extinct populations from coasts of the Bothnian Bay and the Arctic Sea (N = 297). We estimated the genetic diversity in the study populations and applied principal component analysis and Bayesian and coalescence methods to examine their population genetic structure and evolutionary history. We found that the endangered Bothnian Bay population still harbors a reasonably high amount of genetic diversity and is differentiated from the geographically closest populations. We show that Puccinellia phryganodes is more likely a climatic relict in the Bothnian Bay than a long-distance disperser and that the endangered southern population should be considered as an evolutionary significant unit rather than a mere representative of the main population.

Morphological and agronomic variation of Puccinellia nuttalliana populations from the Canadian Great Plains

Liu, Y. and Coulman, B. E. 2015. Morphological and agronomic variation of Puccinellia nuttalliana populations from the Canadian Great Plains. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 67–76. Native grass species are adapted to local environments and have the potential for development as forage or turf grass cultivars for semiarid environments. Nuttall's alkali grass [Puccinellia nuttalliana (Shultes) Hitchc.] is a salt-tolerant grass with potential for forage or turf use, and is widely distributed across western North America. Understanding the morphological and agronomic variability of this species is a prerequisite for developing populations suitable for dry and saline regions of western Canada. A collection of 24 Puccinellia nuttalliana populations from the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta were established in a field nursery in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Plant height, crown diameter, tiller number, seed yield, dry matter yield, leaf colour, leaf length, leaf width, spring growth and late summer regrowth of individual plants or plots were measured for each collection in 2011 and 2012. Significant variation was found among the 24 populations for all measured characters in both years. The populations Eston and Westbourne09 had taller plants with greater basal diameter, high tiller number, and high seed and dry matter yields, which suggest they may be useful for forage purposes. The population St. Denis had shorter plants with more tillers, greater basal diameter darker green leaf colour and high seed yields; thus, it may useful as a turfgrass. Within certain populations, individual genotypes were identified which would have potential for production of synthetic cultivars for forage or turf purposes. Cluster analysis was conducted using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) and principal coordinate analysis (PCoA). These analyses showed six distinct groups within the collected populations; however, there was no distinguishable pattern of clustering of populations by region.

Evaluating genetic variation and relationships amongPuccinellia nuttallianapopulations using amplified fragment length polymorphism markers

Liu, Y., Fu, Y.-B. and Coulman, B. E. 2013. Evaluating genetic variation and relationships among Puccinellia nuttalliana populations using amplified fragment length polymorphism markers. Can. J. Plant Sci. 93: 1097–1104. Nuttall's salt-meadow, or alkali grass [Puccinellia nuttalliana (Shultes) Hitchc.], is a native grass species in North America, well known for its salt tolerance. Little information is available about the genetic diversity of natural populations of this species. Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers were used to examine the inter-population relationships and to compare variances within and among 23 populations collected from the Canadian Great Plains. Five AFLP primer pairs were employed to screen 15 genotypes (five sets of three half-sib plants) from each population, and 185 polymorphic AFLP bands were scored for each sample. The frequencies of these scored bands ranged from 0.02 to 0.99 with a mean of 0.60. The analysis of molecular variance revealed more than 96% of the total AFLP variation resided within populations. Populations were not highly differentiated with only 4% of the total AFLP variation residing among populations. A Mantel test revealed a significant but low correlation between genetic and geographic distances (r=0.29, P=0.024). Implications for P. nuttalliana conservation, germplasm sampling, and cultivar development are discussed.

Evaluating genetic variation and relationships among Puccinellia nuttalliana populations using amplified fragment length polymorphism markers

Liu, Y., Fu, Y.-B. and Coulman, B. E. 2013. Evaluating genetic variation and relationships amongPuccinellia nuttallianapopulations using amplified fragment length polymorphism markers. Can. J. Plant Sci. 93: 1097-1104. Nuttall's salt-meadow, or alkali grass [Puccinellia nuttalliana (Shultes) Hitchc.], is a native grass species in North America, well known for its salt tolerance. Little information is available about the genetic diversity of natural populations of this species. Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers were used to examine the inter-population relationships and to compare variances within and among 23 populations collected from the Canadian Great Plains. Five AFLP primer pairs were employed to screen 15 genotypes (five sets of three half-sib plants) from each population, and 185 polymorphic AFLP bands were scored for each sample. The frequencies of these scored bands ranged from 0.02 to 0.99 with a mean of 0.60. The analysis of molecular variance revealed more than 96% of the t...

The Use of Soil Amendments to Improve Survival of Roadside Grasses

Highway rights-of-way are routinely planted with turfgrasses to prevent erosion, filter runoff, and improve aesthetics. However, the roadside is a harsh environment, and perennial grasses often die within the first year, leading to bare ground and annual weeds, which do not prevent erosion during the winter. To improve the survival of perennial vegetation on the roadside, it is necessary to identify the factors limiting vegetation growth and then to either identify plants that can tolerate those factors or identify ways to ameliorate the stresses while still maintaining safety. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of improved cultivars, salt tolerance, and organic matter amendments on perennial grass survival along two highways in Rhode Island. The amendments tested were processed biosolids and composted yard waste, each applied in a 50:50 mixture by volume with existing roadside soil; plain soil was included as a control. We tested 20 improved turfgrass cultivars and one seed mixture with common creeping red fescue (Festuca rubra L.) as the standard. Turfgrass species tested were perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.), red fescue, alkali grass [Puccinellia distans (Jacq.) Parl.], idaho bentgrass (Agrostis idahoensis Nash), tufted hairgrass [Deschampsia cespitosa (L.) P. Beauv.], and kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.). We found that soil amendment was more effective than either improved genetics or salt tolerance. Establishment, vertical growth, and persistence of vegetation cover were significantly improved by amendment with organic matter, particularly biosolids. In Summer 2009 (the second growing season), turf cover exceeded 50% in the biosolids plots but was below 20% in the plain soil plots with complete loss of cover in the plain soil plots at one location. Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue, red fescue, and idaho bentgrass showed the best persistence at the species level, and there were no consistent differences among cultivars.

High Germination and Growth Rates of Alkali Grass on Alkaline Condition

High Germination and Growth Rates of Alkali Grass on Alkaline Condition

Functional characterization of a plasma membrane Na+/H+ antiporter from alkali grass (Puccinellia tenuiflora)

We have cloned a Na(+)/H(+) antiporter gene (GenBank accession no EF440291, PtNHA1) from Puccinellia tenuiflora (so-called alkali grass in Chinese) roots under NaCl salt stress. Its cDNA is 3775 bp and contains a 3414 bp open reading frame. The amino acid sequences of PtNHA1 show high identities with a putative plasma membrane Na(+)/H(+) antiporter from wheat. PtNHA1 was predicted to contain 11 hypothetical transmembrane domains in the N-terminal part and to localize in the plasma membrane. Genomic DNA gel blot analysis shows that PtNHA1 is a single-copy gene in the alkali grass genome. PtNHA1 is highly expressed in leaves, roots and shoots by RNA gel blot analysis. Furthermore, PtNHA1 gene expression of alkali grass was clearly up-regulated by NaCl salt stress. Overexpression of PtNHA1 in Arabidopsis resulted in enhanced tolerance of transgenic plants to NaCl stress. The ion contents analysis shows that, compared with the wild-type (WT), less Na(+) and more K(+) were accumulated in transgenic plants under NaCl stress. The results indicate that PtNHA1 play an important role in NaCl salt stress. Additionally, compared with the WT, total activities of ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and catalase (CAT), two key reactive oxygen species (ROS) detoxifying enzymes were high in transgenic plants under salt stress, respectively. The transcript levels of two APX genes (Apx1, s/mApx) and two CAT genes (Cat1, Cat2) in transgenic plants were higher than those in WT. This suggests that overexpression of PtNHA1 results in enhanced ROS-scavenging enzymes of transgenic plants under NaCl salt stress.