The development of alfalfa that can germinate at extremely high NaC1 levels will improve early emergence and establishment of this important forage crop in saline soils. We have identified plants in the eighth cycle of selection that germinated at -3.0 MPa (30,000 ppm). Seed from these plants displayed a 40% better germination at -2.1 MPa (21,000 ppm) than the previous cycle. Germination at higher salt concentrations were not different between the two germplasm sources.

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CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / A berinjela (Solanum melongena L.) à uma espÃcie herbÃcea, hortÃcula subtropical pertencente à famÃlia Solonaceae, muito consumida no mundo inteiro. Em algumas Ãreas seu cultivo à limitado pela escassez da Ãgua de irrigaÃÃo, alÃm de apresentarem diferentes graus de salinidade. No entanto sÃo raras as informaÃÃes sobre a tolerÃncia da salinidade pela cultura da berinjela. Visando avaliar a tolerÃncia da cultura à salinidade e seus efeitos sobre os teores de nutrientes na planta, foi instalado um experimento em condiÃÃes de hidroponia em casa de vegetaÃÃo. Usou-se 10 tratamentos de salinidade correspondentes a CE da soluÃÃo nutritiva de 1,70; 2,28; 2,60; 3,11; 4,08; 6,03; 8,12; 10,15; 12,10; e 14,10 dS.m-1. O delineamento experimental adotado foi inteiramente ao acaso, com trÃs repetiÃÃes. A salinidade reduziu significativamente o crescimento e a produÃÃo da parte aÃrea e raiz, principalmente nos tratamentos em que a CE da soluÃÃo nutritiva foi superior a 3,11 dS.m-1. Os teores mÃdios de K, Ca, Mg, S, Cu, Fe e Mn variaram nas folhas caules e raÃzes, apresentando diferenÃas estatÃsticas significativas. O sÃdio aumentou progressivamente, enquanto que no potÃssio ocorreu o inverso. O aumento da salinidade reduziu a fotossÃntese, a transpiraÃÃo e a condutÃncia estomÃtica. / The egg-plant (Solanum melongena L.), a subtropical herb species that botanically belongs to Solanaceae family, much consumed all over the world. On certain areas shortages both the water availability and the water salinity level represent a great limitation for egg-plant plant cultivation. However, almost no information is available related to the egg-plant salt tolerance. With the objective to evaluate the crop salt tolerance, as well as the effects of the different solution nutrition salinity levels on plant growth, an experiment was conducted under greenhouse conditions. The statistical design consisted of ten salinity treatments corresponding to the nutrition solutions CEÂs of: 1.70; 2.28; 2.60; 3.11; 4.08; 6.03; 8.12; 10.15; 12.10 and 14.10 dS.m- 1. It was used an entirely statistical randomized block design with three replications. The best results showed that the salinity significantly reduced both plant upper part growth and root production, mainly in the treatments with nutrition solution CE value higher than 3.11 dSm-1. The average leaf-peciole and root contents of K, Ca, Mg, S, Cu, Fe and Mn varied, presenting significant statistical differences. The Na content increased progressively with CE, while the K content decreased in the same way. The increasing salinity levels cause reductions in photosynthesis, transpiration and stomatal conductance.

Orientador: Priscila Lupino Gratão / Resumo: Devido às intensas mudanças climáticas globais e atividades antropogênicas, a salinidade tornou-se uma das principais problemáticas limitantes à produção agrícola. Para lidar com essa problemática, o estudo de genótipos e cultivares que sejam tolerantes ao sal, bem como alternativas através de inoculantes torna-se cada vez mais necessário. O objetivo deste trabalho foi caracterizar a resposta antioxidante através da inoculação de Azospirillum brasilense em milho, e correlacionar a atividade destas enzimas ao aumento na capacidade da planta em tolerar o estresse ocasionado pela salinidade. Os tratamentos foram formados pela combinação de cloreto de sódio (0 e 100 mM de NaCl) via água de irrigação e ausência e presença do inóculo de A. brasilense, sendo o experimento conduzido inteiramente casualizado, com quatro repetições Os resultados demonstraram diferentes respostas de acordo com as análises de peroxidação lipídica (MDA), quantificação de nitrogênio (N) e sódio (Na+), massa seca (MS) e atividades enzimáticas, como superóxido dismutase (SOD, EC 1.15.1.1), glutationa redutase (GR, EC 1.6.4.2), guaiacol peroxidase (GPOX, EC 1.11.1.7) e glutationa peroxidase (GSH-PX, EC. 1.11.1.9). Os resultados mostraram que 100 mM de NaCl ocasionou peroxidação lipídica, com consequente aumento do teor de MDA. Entretanto, com a presença da bactéria nesta condição, o teor de MDA foi reduzido, houve aumento do acúmulo de N e as enzimas apresentaram diferenças significativas entre si, com aument... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Due to intense global climate change and anthropogenic activities, salinity has become one of the main problems limiting agricultural production. To deal with this problem, the study of genotypes and cultivars that are salt tolerant and also alternatives through inoculants becomes increasingly necessary. The main of this work was to characterize an antioxidant response through the inoculation of Azospirillum brasilense in maize and to correlate the activity of the enzymes with the salt-stress tolerance. The experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design with four replications. The treatments were performed by combination of sodium chloride (0 and 100 mM NaCl) through irrigation water and absence and presence of A. brasilense inoculation. Overall results showed different responses according to lipid peroxidation (MDA), nitrogen (N) and Na+ contents, dry mass (DM) and enzymatic activities, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD, EC 1.15.1.1), glutathione reductase (GR, EC 1.6.4.2), guaiacol peroxidase (GPOX, EC 1.11.1.7) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX, EC 1.11.1.9). The results showed were that 100 mM NaCl caused lipid peroxidation with consequent increases in MDA content. However, MDA content was reduced and antioxidant enzymes demonstrated significant differences in the presence of the bacteria. Our data suggest that A. brasilense may confer plant tolerance in maize to salt stress and acquired tolerance can be related to the antioxidant system, mainly GSH-PX and ... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Salt stress is one of the major problems in the present world’s agriculture. Plants encounter drought stress even in the availability of water because of osmotic imbalance in the cell due to excess salts. Plants avoid water uptake, which in turn decreases the photosynthetic activity. In this work, we measured the effect of salt stress on three accessions of Arabidopsis thaliana (Columbia (Col-0), Landsberg erecta (Ler-0), Wassilewskija (Ws-4)) by subjecting the plants to stress with 0-150 mM NaCl followed by recovery. The impact of the stress was clearly observed in all three accessions during stress and recovery period. Chlorophyll content in leaves decreased with increasing salt concentration. Proline levels increased during salt stress conditions. Non-photochemical quenching and PSII activity slightly decreased under stress conditions. Salt treated plants showed slow acidification of lumen with delayed Non-photochemical quenching in recovery phase. Ler-0 was the most sensitive ecotype to salt stress followed by Ws-4 and Col-0.

<p>Speciation is a constantly ongoing process whereby reproductive isolating baririer build up over time until groups of organisms can no longer exchange genes with each other. Adaptation is thought to play a major role in the formation of these barriers, although the genetic mechanisms and geographic mode underlying the spread of barriers due to adaptive evolution is poorly understood. Critically, speciation may occur in stages through the formation of intermediate partially reproductively isolated groups. The idea of such widespread ecotypes has been the subject of great controversy over the last century. Even so, we have relatively little understanding about whether widespread ecotypes exist, wheather they are reproductively isolated, and how adaptive alleles are distributed among partially isolated groups. In this dissertation, I examined these issues in widespread coastal perennial and inland annual ecotypes of the yellow monkeyflower, Mimulus guttatus. First, I determined that coastal and inland populations comprise distinct ecotypic groups. I then determined that these ecotypes are adapted to their respective habitats through genetically based flowering time and salt tolerance differences. I assessed the genetic architecture of these adaptations through quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis and determined the geographic distribution of the underlying alleles through latitudinally replicated mapping populations. I quantified the contribution of these loci to adaptation in the field through the incorporation of advance generation hybrids in reciprocal transplant experiments. In the process, I discovered a widespread chromosomal inversion to be involved in the adaptive flowering time and annual/perennial life-history shift among the ecotypes. Overall, the results of this study suggest that widespread reproductively isolated ecotypes can form through the spread adaptive standing genetic variation between habitats and that chromosomal rearrangements can integral to this process.</p> / Dissertation

The buildup of salt in soils is a major abiotic stress that affects agricultural productivity, limiting the growth and yield of most crop species which cannot tolerate even modest levels of salinity (glycophytes). Genetic variability for salt tolerance exists as some plants (halophytes) have adapted to environments with high levels of salt. Understanding how salt tolerance has been acquired in halophytic species will be an important part of strategies to improve the ability of crops to grow in saline soils. The CALCINEURIN B-LIKE10 (AtCBL10) calcium sensor was identified as a component of salt signaling in the glycophyte Arabidopsis thaliana (A. thaliana) based on hypersensitivity of the Atcbl10 mutant to salt. When A. thaliana is grown in the presence of salt, AtCBL10 interacts with the AtSOS2 protein kinase to activate the AtSOS1 sodium/proton exchanger, resulting in the removal of sodium ions from the cytosol. Eutrema salsugineum (E. salsugineum), a halophytic relative of A. thaliana, has two CBL10 genes (EsCBL10a and EsCBL10b). In this research, the duplication of CBL10 in E. salsugineum was characterized and the functions of EsCBL10a and EsCBL10b in salt tolerance were determined. My analyses indicate that the coding sequences of EsCBL10a and EsCBL10b are highly conserved, as they share 85% nucleotide identity. An analysis of transcript structure indicates transcripts from EsCBL10a and EsCBL10b loci are alternatively spliced, but in distinct ways. My results suggest that EsCBL10a and AtCBL10 likely share the ancestral genomic position, while EsCBL10b might have moved to a different genomic region, and that the duplication took place prior to the divergence of expanded Lineage II species. The expression patterns of EsCBL10a and EsCBL10b are different; EsCBL10b transcript is high in shoots and low in roots while EsCBL10a transcript is detectable in both tissues. Preliminary analysis of E. salsugineum lines with reduced expression of EsCBL10a and EsCBL10b suggest that both genes might play a role during growth in the presence of salt, but that these roles are distinct.

Many higher plants can synthesize methyl chloride gas via a common metabolic route, also known as the biological chloride methylation. The reaction is catalyzed by an S-adenosyl-L- methionine (AdoMet) dependent halide/thiol methyltransferase (H/TMT). It is speculated that plants use chloride methylation to remove excess chloride via volatilization and hence maintain homeostatic levels of cytoplasmic chloride ion, suggesting a role of H/TMT in salt tolerance. In this project, the effect of engineering a Brassica oleracea thiol methyltransferase (BoTMT) into tomato was studied to determine the physiological relevance of this enzyme in conferring salt tolerance. Transgenic tomato plants acquired the ability to release methyl chloride in response to NaCl treatment, but exhibited no greater tolerance to NaCl, based on several morphological and physiological measurements, as compared to the wild-type plants. The results indicate that AdoMet dependent chloride methylation is unlikely to contribute to an increase in salt tolerance in higher plants.

Many higher plants can synthesize methyl chloride gas via a common metabolic route, also known as the biological chloride methylation. The reaction is catalyzed by an S-adenosyl-L- methionine (AdoMet) dependent halide/thiol methyltransferase (H/TMT). It is speculated that plants use chloride methylation to remove excess chloride via volatilization and hence maintain homeostatic levels of cytoplasmic chloride ion, suggesting a role of H/TMT in salt tolerance. In this project, the effect of engineering a Brassica oleracea thiol methyltransferase (BoTMT) into tomato was studied to determine the physiological relevance of this enzyme in conferring salt tolerance. Transgenic tomato plants acquired the ability to release methyl chloride in response to NaCl treatment, but exhibited no greater tolerance to NaCl, based on several morphological and physiological measurements, as compared to the wild-type plants. The results indicate that AdoMet dependent chloride methylation is unlikely to contribute to an increase in salt tolerance in higher plants.