title: Linking stomatal traits and expression of slow anion channel genes HvSLAH1 and HvSLAC1 with grain yield for increasing salinity tolerance in barley.
abstract: Soil salinity is an environmental and agricultural problem in many parts of the world. One of the keys to breeding barley for adaptation to salinity lies in a better understanding of the genetic control of stomatal regulation. We have employed a range of physiological (stomata assay, gas exchange, phylogenetic analysis, QTL analysis), and molecular techniques (RT-PCR and qPCR) to investigate stomatal behavior and genotypic variation in barley cultivars and a genetic population in four experimental trials. A set of relatively efficient and reliable methods were developed for the characterization of stomatal behavior of a large number of varieties and genetic lines. Furthermore, we found a large genetic variation of gas exchange and stomatal traits in barley in response to salinity stress. Salt-tolerant cultivar CM72 showed significantly larger stomatal aperture under 200 mM NaCl treatment than that of salt-sensitive cultivar Gairdner. Stomatal traits such as aperture width/length were found to significantly correlate with grain yield under salt treatment. Phenotypic characterization and QTL analysis of a segregating double haploid population of the CM72/Gairdner resulted in the identification of significant stomatal traits-related QTLs for salt tolerance. Moreover, expression analysis of the slow anion channel genes HvSLAH1 and HvSLAC1 demonstrated that their up-regulation is linked to higher barley grain yield in the field.
authors.affiliation: School of Science and Health, University of Western Sydney Penrith, NSW, Australia ; School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Xiaohui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Science and Health, University of Western Sydney Penrith, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mak
authors.affiliation: School of Science and Health, University of Western Sydney Penrith, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Babla
authors.affiliation: School of Land and Food, University of Tasmania Hobart, TAS, Australia.
authors.forename: Feifei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Guang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: School of Science and Health, University of Western Sydney Penrith, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Filip
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Veljanoski
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Land and Food, University of Tasmania Hobart, TAS, Australia.
authors.forename: Sergey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shabala
authors.affiliation: School of Land and Food, University of Tasmania Hobart, TAS, Australia.
authors.forename: Meixue
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: School of Science and Health, University of Western Sydney Penrith, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Zhong-Hua
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Chen
keywords: Hordeum vulgare L; HvSLAC1; HvSLAH1; gas exchange; quantitative trait loci; soil salinity; stomata