Dissecting salt stress pathways

• Published in: Journal of experimental botany 2006-03, Vol.57 (5), p.1097-1107
• Main Authors: Ma, Shisong, Gong, Qingqiu, Bohnert, Hans J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptation to environment and cultivation conditions; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Arabidopsis - drug effects; Arabidopsis - genetics; Arabidopsis - metabolism; Arabidopsis thaliana; Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0; biochemical pathways; Biological and medical sciences; Carrier proteins; Cluster Analysis; cold stress; cross-talk; Disease resistance; Down-Regulation; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; fuzzy k-means clustering; gene expression; Gene Expression Profiling; gene expression regulation; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Genes; genetic resistance; Genetics and breeding of economic plants; mechanical stress; messenger RNA; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; osmotic pressure; Oxidative stress; plant adaptation; plant pathogens; Plant Roots - genetics; Plant Roots - metabolism; plant stress; Plants; RNA; roots; Salinity; salt stress; shoots; signal transduction; Sodium Chloride - metabolism; Sodium Chloride - pharmacology; transcript profiles; Transcription factors; Transcriptional regulatory elements; Up-Regulation; Varietal selection. Specialized plant breeding, plant breeding aims; Zinc
• ISSN: 0022-0957; 1460-2431
• DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erj098

Upon salt-stress treatment, Arabidopsis mobilizes a complex set of pathways that includes alterations in the regulation of gene expression and metabolic adjustments that attempt to establish a new energetic and developmental equilibrium. The responses share common elements with reactions to many other stresses, such as challenges by osmotic fluctuations, pathogens, mechanical interference, or cold stress. Also, hormones, such as ABA, ethylene, and jasmonic acid, play important roles in salt-stress signalling and adaptation. Publicly available and our own transcript profiling data are used here to dissect gene regulation under salt stress in A. thaliana Col-0. Applying the clustering method 'fuzzy k-means clustering' on 1500 strongly regulated genes, the salt-stress response could be categorized into distinct segments. Fewer than 25% of the regulated genes are salt stress-specific, while the majority also responded to other stresses and/or hormone treatments. Significantly, roots and shoots showed differences in hormone responsiveness, and early and late responses correlated with different signalling events. A network begins to emerge, revealing the basis of cross-talk between high salinity and other stresses.