Root-specific transcript profiling of contrasting rice genotypes in response to salinity stress

Olivier Cotsaftis, Darren Plett, Alexander A.T. Johnson, Harkamal Walia, Clyde Wilson, Abdelbagi M. Ismail, Timothy J. Close, Mark Tester*, Ute Baumann

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

117 Scopus citations

Abstract

Elevated salinity imposes osmotic and ion toxicity stresses on living cells and requires a multitude of responses in order to enable plant survival. Building on earlier work profiling transcript levels in rice (Oryza sativa) shoots of FL478, a salt-tolerant indica recombinant inbred line, and IR29, a salt-sensitive cultivar, transcript levels were compared in roots of these two accessions as well as in the roots of two additional salt-tolerant indica genotypes, the landrace Pokkali and the recombinant inbred line IR63731. The aim of this study was to compare transcripts in the sensitive and the tolerant lines in order to identify genes likely to be involved in plant salinity tolerance, rather than in responses to salinity per se. Transcript profiles of several gene families with known links to salinity tolerance are described (e.g. HKTs, NHXs). The putative function of a set of genes identified through their salt responsiveness, transcript levels, and/or chromosomal location (i.e. underneath QTLs for salinity tolerance) is also discussed. Finally, the parental origin of the Saltol region in FL478 is further investigated. Overall, the dataset presented appears to be robust and it seems likely that this system could provide a reliable strategy for the discovery of novel genes involved in salinity tolerance.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)25-41
Number of pages17
JournalMolecular plant
Volume4
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2011
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Australian Research Council (to M.T.).

Keywords

  • HKT
  • Microarray
  • Rice
  • Root
  • Salinity tolerance
  • Saltol

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Molecular Biology
  • Plant Science

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