Environmentally friendly arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in the soil can alleviate host damage from abiotic stresses, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus, Paraglomus occultum, on plant growth, nitrogen balance index, and expressions of salt overly sensitive genes (SOSs), plasma membrane intrinsic protein genes (PIPs), and tonoplast intrinsic protein genes (TIPs) in leaves of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. var. Huapiqiu) seedlings grown in 0 and 150 mM NaCl stress. NaCl stress severely inhibited plant growth, but P. occultum inoculation significantly improved plant growth. NaCl stress also suppressed the chlorophyll index, accompanied by an increase in the flavonoid index, whereas inoculation with AMF significantly promoted the chlorophyll index as well as reduced the flavonoid index under NaCl conditions, thus leading to an increase in the nitrogen balance index in inoculated plants. NaCl stress regulated the expression of SlPIP1 and SlPIP2 genes in leaves, and five SlPIPs genes were up-regulated after P. occultum colonization under NaCl stress, along with the down-regulation of only SlPIP1;2. Both NaCl stress and P. occultum inoculation induced diverse expression patterns in SlTIPs, coupled with a greater number of up-regulated TIPs in inoculated versus uninoculated plants under NaCl stress. NaCl stress up-regulated SlSOS2 expressions of mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal plants, while P. occultum significantly up-regulated SlSOS1 expressions by 1.13- and 0.45-fold under non-NaCl and NaCl conditions, respectively. It was concluded that P. occultum inoculation enhanced the salt tolerance of the tomato, associated with the nutrient status and stress-responsive gene (aquaporins and SOS1) expressions.
Keywords: PIPs; SOS; TIPs; arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; nitrogen balance index; salt stress.