Lotus tenuis tolerates combined salinity and waterlogging: maintaining O2 transport to roots and expression of an NHX1-like gene contribute to regulation of Na+ transport

Salinity and waterlogging interact to reduce growth for most crop and pasture species. The combination of these stresses often cause a large increase in the rate of Na+ and Cl− transport to shoots; however, the mechanisms responsible for this are largely unknown. To identify mechanisms contributing to the adverse interaction between salinity and waterlogging, we compared two Lotus species with contrasting tolerances when grown under saline (200 mM NaCl) and O2-deficient (stagnant) treatments. Measurements of radial O2 loss (ROL) under stagnant conditions indicated that more O2 reaches root tips of Lotus tenuis, compared with Lotus corniculatus. Better internal aeration would contribute to maintaining Na+ and Cl− transport processes in roots of L. tenuis exposed to stagnant-plus-NaCl treatments. L. tenuis root Na+ concentrations after stagnant-plus-NaCl treatment (200 mM) were 17% higher than L. corniculatus, with 55% of the total plant Na+ being accumulated in roots, compared with only 39% for L. corniculatus. L. tenuis accumulated more Na+ in roots, presumably in vacuoles, thereby reducing transport to the shoot (25% lower than L. corniculatus). A candidate gene for vacuole Na+ accumulation, an NHX1-like gene, was cloned from L. tenuis and identity established via sequencing and yeast complementation. Transcript levels of NHX1 in L. tenuis roots under stagnant-plus-NaCl treatment were the same as for aerated NaCl, whereas L. corniculatus roots had reduced transcript levels. Enhanced O2 transport to roots enables regulation of Na+ transport processes in L. tenuis roots, contributing to tolerance to combined salinity and waterlogging stresses

Spectroscopic and Computational Investigation of Low-Spin MnIII Bis(scorpionate) Complexes

Six-coordinate MnIII complexes are typically high-spin (S = 2), however, the scorpionate ligand, both in its traditional, hydridotris(pyrazolyl)borate form, Tp– and Tp*– (the latter with 3,5-dimethylpyrazole substituents) and in an aryltris(carbene)borate (i.e., N-heterocyclic carbene, NHC) form, [Ph(MeIm)3B]–, (MeIm = 3-methylimidazole) lead to formation of bis(scorpionate) complexes of MnIII with spin triplet ground states; three of which were investigated herein: [Tp2Mn]SbF6 (1SbF6), [Tp*2Mn]SbF6 (2SbF6), and [{Ph(MeIm)3B}2Mn]CF3SO3 (3CF3SO3). These trigonally symmetric complexes were studied experimentally by magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectroscopy (the propensity of 3 to oxidize to MnIV precluded collection of useful MCD data) including variable temperatures and fields (VTVH-MCD) and computationally by ab initio CASSCF/NEVPT2 methods. These combined experimental and theoretical techniques establish the 3A2g electronic ground state for the three complexes, and provide information on the energy of the “conventional” high-spin excited state (5Eg) and other, triplet excited states. These results show the electronic effect of pyrazole ring substituents in comparing 1 and 2. The tunability of the scorpionate ligand, even by perhaps the simplest change (from pyrazole in 1 to 3,5-dimethylpyrazole in 2) is quantitatively manifested through perturbations in ligand-field excited-state energies that impact ground-state zero-field splittings. The comparison with the NHC donor is much more dramatic. In 3, the stronger σ-donor properties of the NHC lead to a quantitatively different electronic structure, so that the lowest lying spin triplet excited state, 3Eg, is much closer in energy to the ground state than in 1 or 2. The zero-field splitting (zfs) parameters of the three complexes were calculated and in the case of 1 and 2 compare closely to experiment (lower by < 10 %, < 2 cm–1 in absolute terms); for 3 the large magnitude zfs is reproduced, although there is ambiguity about its sign. The comprehensive picture obtained for these bis(scorpionate) MnIII complexes provides quantitative insight into the role played by the scorpionate ligand in stabilizing unusual electronic structures

Selecting Grassland Species for Saline Environments

In Australia, around 5.7 million hectares of agricultural land are currently affected by dryland salinity or at risk from shallow water tables and this figure is expected to increase over the next 50 years (LWRA, 2001). Most improved grassland species cannot tolerate the combined effects of salt and waterlogging and, therefore, the productivity of sown grasslands in salt-affected areas is low. However, there is potential to overcome the lack of suitably adapted fodder species by introducing new, salt and waterlogging-tolerant species and by diversifying the gene pool of proven species. Potential species include exotic, naturalised and native Australian grass, legumes, herb and shrub species that are halophytes and non-halophytes. A collaborative national project in southern Australia commenced in 2004 with the objective of evaluating a range of forage species for saline environments

Drivers of plant traits that allow survival in wetlands

Plants have developed a suite of traits to survive the anaerobic and anoxic soil conditions in wetlands. Previous studies on wetland plant adaptive traits have focused mainly on physiological aspects under experimental conditions, or compared the trait expression of the local species pool. Thus, a comprehensive analysis of potential factors driving wetland plant adaptive traits under natural environmental conditions is still missing.In this study, we analysed three important wetland adaptive traits, i.e. root porosity, root/shoot ratio and underwater photosynthetic rate, to explore driving factors using a newly compiled dataset of wetland plants. Based on 21 studies at 38 sites across different biomes, we found that root porosity was affected by an interaction of temperature and hydrological regime; root:shoot ratio was affected by temperature, precipitation and habitat type; and underwater photosynthetic rate was affected by precipitation and life form. This suggests that a variety of driving mechanisms affect the expression of different adaptive traits.The quantitative relationships we observed between the adaptive traits and their driving factors will be a useful reference for future global methane and denitrification modelling studies. Our results also stress that besides the traditionally emphasized hydrological driving factors, other factors at several spatial scales should also be taken into consideration in the context of future functional wetland ecology.Environmental Biolog

Distinct mechanisms for aerenchyma formation in leaf sheaths of rice genotypes displaying a quiescence or escape strategy for flooding tolerance

Background and Aims Rice is one of the few crops able to withstand periods of partial or even complete submergence. One of the adaptive traits of rice is the constitutive presence and further development of aerenchyma which enables oxygen to be transported to submerged organs. The development of lysigenous aerenchyma is promoted by ethylene accumulating within the submerged plant tissues, although other signalling mechanisms may also co-exist. In this study, aerenchyma development was analysed in two rice (Oryza sativa) varieties, ‘FR13A’ and ‘Arborio Precoce’, which show opposite traits in flooding response in terms of internode elongation and survival. Methods The growth and survival of rice varieties under submergence was investigated in the leaf sheath of ‘FR13A’ and ‘Arborio Precoce’. The possible involvement of ethylene and reactive oxygen species (ROS) was evaluated in relation to aerenchyma formation. Cell viability and DNA fragmentation were determined by FDA/FM4-64 staining and TUNEL assay, respectively. Ethylene production was monitored by gas chromatography and by analysing ACO gene expression. ROS production was measured by using Amplex Red assay kit and the fluorescent dye DCFH2-DA. The expression of APX1 was also evaluated. AVG and DPI solutions were used to test the effect of inhibiting ethylene biosynthesis and ROS production, respectively. Key Results Both the varieties displayed constitutive lysigenous aerenchyma formation, which was further enhanced when submerged. ‘Arborio Precoce’, which is characterized by fast elongation when submerged, showed active ethylene biosynthetic machinery associated with increased aerenchymatous areas. ‘FR13A’, which harbours the Sub1A gene that limits growth during oxygen deprivation, did not show any increase in ethylene production after submersion but still displayed increased aerenchyma. Hydrogen peroxide levels increased in ‘FR13A’ but not in ‘Arborio Precoce’. Conclusions While ethylene controls aerenchyma formation in the fast-elongating ‘Arborio Precoce’ variety, in ‘FR13A’ ROS accumulation plays an important role

Revealing the roles of GORK channels and NADPH oxidase in acclimation to hypoxia in Arabidopsis

Regulation of root cell K+ is essential for acclimation to low oxygen stress. The potential roles of GORK (depolarization-activated guard cell outward-rectifying potassium) channels and RBOHD (respiratory burst oxidase homologue D) in plant adaptive responses to hypoxia were investigated in the context of tissue specificity (epidermis versus stele; elongation versus mature zone) in roots of Arabidopsis. The expression of GORK and RBOHD was down-regulated by 2- to 3-fold within 1 h and 24 h of hypoxia treatment in Arabidopsis wild-type (WT) roots. Interestingly, a loss of the functional GORK channel resulted in a waterlogging-tolerant phenotype, while rbohD knockout was sensitive to waterlogging. To understand their functions under hypoxia stress, we studied K+, Ca2+, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) distribution in various root cell types. gork1-1 plants had better K+ retention ability in both the elongation and mature zone compared with the WT and rbohD under hypoxia. Hypoxia induced a Ca2+ increase in each cell type after 72 h, and the increase was much less pronounced in rbohD than in the WT. In most tissues except the elongation zone in rbohD, the H2O2 concentration had decreased after 1 h of hypoxia, but then increased significantly after 24 h of hypoxia in each zone and tissue, further suggesting that RBOHD may shape hypoxia-specific Ca2+ signatures via the modulation of apoplastic H2O2 production. Taken together, our data suggest that plants lacking functional GORK channels are more capable of retaining K+ for their better performance under hypoxia, and that RBOHD is crucial in hypoxia-induced Ca2+ signalling for stress sensing and acclimation mechanism

Phosphate solubilizers enhance NPK fertilizer use efficiency in rice and legume cultivation

It has been reported that phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) are the most promising bacteria among the plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR); which may be used as biofertilizers for plant growth and nutrient use efficiency. Moreover, these soil micro-organisms play a significant role in regulating the dynamics of organic matter decomposition and the availability of plant nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and other nutrients. Through this study, the management of nutrient use efficiency by the application of PSB was targeted in order to make the applied nutrients more available to the plants in the rice (Oryza sativa) and yardlong bean (Vigna unguiculata) cultivation. Results have shown that the treatments with PSB alone or in the form of consortia of compatible strains with or without the external application of chemical NPK gave more germination index (G. I.) from 2.5 to 5 in rice and 2.7 to 4.8 in bean seeds. They also showed a higher growth in both shoot and root length and a higher biomass as compared to the control. This gives us an idea about the potentiality of these PSB strains and their application in rice and yardlong bean cultivation to get a better harvest index. Their use will also possibly reduce the nutrient runoff or leaching and increase in the use efficiency of the applied fertilizers. Thus, we can conclude that the NPK uptake and management can be improved by the use of PSB in rice and yardlong bean cultivation, and their application may be much more beneficial in the agricultural field