Response of olive shoots to salinity stress suggests the involvement of sulfur metabolism
Author(s)
Date Issued
2021
Type
article
Volume
10
Issue
2
Journal
Abstract
Global warming has two dangerous global consequences for agriculture: drought, due to
water scarcity, and salinization, due to the prolonged use of water containing high concentrations
of salts. Since the global climate is projected to continue to change over this century and beyond,
choosing salt-tolerant plants could represent a potential paramount last resort for exploiting the
secondary saline soils. Olive is considered moderately resistant to soil salinity as compared to other
fruit trees, and in the present study, we investigated the influence of NaCl solutions (ranging from
0 to 200 mM) in a salt-tolerant (cv Canino) and two of its transgenic lines (Canino AT17-1 and
Canino AT17-2), overexpressing tobacco osmotin gene, and in a salt-sensitive (Sirole) olive cultivar.
After four weeks, most of the shoots of both Canino and Sirole plants showed stunted growth and
ultimate leaf drop by exposure to salt-enriched media, contrary to transgenic lines, that did not show
injuries and exhibited a normal growth rate. Malondialdehyde (MDA) content was also measured
as an indicator of the lipid peroxidation level. To evaluate the role of the S assimilatory pathway
in alleviating the adverse effects of salt stress, thiols levels as well as extractable activities of ATP
sulfurylase (ATPS) and O-acetyl serine(thiol)lyase (OASTL), the first and the last enzyme of the S
assimilation pathway, respectively, have been estimated. The results have clearly depicted that both
transgenic lines overexpressing osmotin gene coped with increasing levels of NaCl by the induction
of S metabolism, and particularly increase in OASTL activity closely paralleled changes of NaCl
concentration. Linear correlation between salt stress and OASTL activity provides evidence that the S
assimilation pathway plays a key role in adaptive response of olive plants under salt stress conditions
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