Morphological, physiological and biochemical aspects of salt tolerance of halophyte Petrosimonia triandra grown in natural habitat

Dorina Podar; Kunigunda Macalik; Kinga-Olga Réti; Ildikó Martonos; Edina Török; Rahela Carpa; David C Weindorf; Jolán Csiszár; Gyöngyi Székely

doi:10.1007/s12298-019-00697-x

Morphological, physiological and biochemical aspects of salt tolerance of halophyte Petrosimonia triandra grown in natural habitat

Physiol Mol Biol Plants. 2019 Nov;25(6):1335-1347. doi: 10.1007/s12298-019-00697-x. Epub 2019 Sep 30.

Authors

Dorina Podar^{1

2}, Kunigunda Macalik³, Kinga-Olga Réti⁴, Ildikó Martonos⁴, Edina Török⁵, Rahela Carpa¹, David C Weindorf⁶, Jolán Csiszár⁷, Gyöngyi Székely^{3

2

8}

Affiliations

¹ 1Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology and Geology, Babeş-Bolyai University, 1 Kogălniceanu St., 400084 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
² 3Centre of Systemic Biology, Biodiversity and Bioresources, Babeş-Bolyai University, 5-7 Clinicilor St., Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
³ 2Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Biology and Geology, Babeş-Bolyai University, 5-7 Clinicilor St., 400006 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
⁴ 4Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Babeş-Bolyai University, 30 Fântânele St., 400294 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
⁵ 5MTA ÖK Lendület Landscape and Conservation Ecology Research Group, MTA Centre for Ecological Research, 2-4 Alkotmány St., Vácrátót, 2163 Hungary.
⁶ 6Department of Plant and Soil Science, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX USA.
⁷ 7Department of Plant Biology, Faculty of Science and Informatics, University of Szeged, 52 Közép fasor St., Szeged, 6726 Hungary.
⁸ 8Institute for Research-Development-Innovation in Applied Natural Sciences, Babeş-Bolyai University, 30 Fântânele St., 400294 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Abstract

Salt tolerance mechanisms of halophyte Petrosimonia triandra, growing in its natural habitat in Cluj County, Romania, were investigated via biomass, growth parameters, water status, ion content, photosynthetic and antioxidative system efficiency, proline accumulation and lipid degradation. Two sampling sites with different soil electrical conductivities were selected: site 1: 3.14 dS m^-1 and site 2: 4.45 dS m^-1. Higher salinity proved to have a positive effect on growth. The relative water content did not decline severely, Na⁺ and K⁺ content of the roots, stem and leaves was more, and the functions of the photosynthetic apparatus and photosynthetic pigment contents were not altered. The efficiency of the antioxidative defence system was found to be assured by coordination of several reactive oxygen species scavengers. The presence of higher salinity led to accumulation of the osmolyte proline, while degradation of membrane lipids was reduced. As a whole, P. triandra evolved different adaptational strategies to counteract soil salinity, including morphological and physiological adaptations, preservation of photosynthetic activity, development of an efficient antioxidative system and accumulation of the osmotic compound, proline.

Keywords: Antioxidant; Biomass; Petrosimonia triandra; Photosynthetic pigments; Proline; Salinity.