Mild salinity stimulates a stress-induced morphogenic response in Arabidopsis thaliana roots.
Plant roots exhibit remarkable developmental plasticity in response to local soil conditions. It is shown here that mild salt stress stimulates a stress-induced morphogenic response (SIMR) in Arabidopsis thaliana roots characteristic of several other abiotic stresses: the proliferation of lateral roots (LRs) with a concomitant reduction in LR and primary root length. The LR proliferation component of the salt SIMR is dramatically enhanced by the transfer of seedlings from a low to a high NO3- medium, thereby compensating for the decreased LR length and maintaining overall LR surface area. Increased LR proliferation is specific to salt stress (osmotic stress alone has no stimulatory effect) and is due to the progression of more LR primordia from the pre-emergence to the emergence stage, in salt-stressed plants. In salt-stressed seedlings, greater numbers of LR primordia exhibit expression of a reporter gene driven by the auxin-sensitive DR5 promoter than in unstressed seedlings. Moreover, in the auxin transporter mutant aux1-7, the LR proliferation component of the salt SIMR is completely abrogated. The results suggest that salt stress promotes auxin accumulation in developing primordia thereby preventing their developmental arrest at the pre-emergence stage. Examination of ABA and ethylene mutants revealed that ABA synthesis and a factor involved in the ethylene signalling network also regulate the LR proliferation component of the salt SIMR.
Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, 84990, Israel.
Gaston
G
Zolla
Yair M
YM
Heimer
Simon
S
Barak
D000040:Abscisic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology*; D005030:Ethylenes / Q000378:metabolism; D007210:Indoleacetic Acids / Q000494:pharmacology; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D009566:Nitrates / Q000494:pharmacology; D010641:Phenotype; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology*; D054712:Salinity; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000187:drug effects
D005030:Ethylenes; D007210:Indoleacetic Acids; D009566:Nitrates; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D000040:Abscisic Acid; C036216:ethylene