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Expressing Arabidopsis thaliana V-ATPase subunit C in barley (Hordeum vulgare) improves plant performance under saline condition by enabling better osmotic adjustment

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-19, 14:00 authored by Adem, GD, Roy, SJ, Huang, Y, Chen, Z-H, Wang, F, Meixue ZhouMeixue Zhou, John BowmanJohn Bowman, Holford, P, Sergey ShabalaSergey Shabala
Salinity is a global problem affecting agriculture that results in an estimated US$27 billion loss in revenue per year. Overexpression of vacuolar ATPase subunits has been shown to be beneficial in improving plant performance under saline conditions. Most studies, however, have not shown whether overexpression of genes encoding ATPase subunits results in improvements in grain yield, and have not investigated the physiological mechanisms behind the improvement in plant growth. In this study, we constitutively expressed Arabidopsis Vacuolar ATPase subunit C (AtVHA-C) in barley. Transgenic plants were assessed for agronomical and physiological characteristics, such as fresh and dry biomass, leaf pigment content, stomatal conductance, grain yield, and leaf Na+ and K+ concentration, when grown in either 0 or 300 mM NaCl. When compared with non-transformed barley, AtVHA-C expressing barley lines had a smaller reduction in both biomass and grain yield under salinity stress. The transgenic lines accumulated Na+ and K+ in leaves for osmotic adjustment. This in turn saves energy consumed in the synthesis of organic osmolytes that otherwise would be needed for osmotic adjustment.

History

Publication title

Functional Plant Biology

Volume

44

Issue

12

Pagination

1147-1159

ISSN

1445-4408

Department/School

Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA)

Publisher

C S I R O Publishing

Place of publication

150 Oxford St, Po Box 1139, Collingwood, Australia, Victoria, 3066

Rights statement

Copyright 2017 CSIRO

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Barley

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