The Role of Plant Ubiquitin-like Modifiers in the Formation of Salt Stress Tolerance.

The climate-driven challenges facing Earth necessitate a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms facilitating plant resilience to environmental stressors. This review delves into the crucial role of ubiquitin-like modifiers, particularly focusing on ATG8-mediated autophagy, in bolstering plant tolerance to salt stress. Synthesising recent research, we unveil the multifaceted contributions of ATG8 to plant adaptation mechanisms amidst salt stress conditions, including stomatal regulation, photosynthetic efficiency, osmotic adjustment, and antioxidant defence.

The Physiological and Molecular Mechanisms of Silicon Action in Salt Stress Amelioration.

Salinity is one of the most common abiotic stress factors affecting different biochemical and physiological processes in plants, inhibiting plant growth, and greatly reducing productivity. During the last decade, silicon (Si) supplementation was intensively studied and now is proposed as one of the most convincing methods to improve plant tolerance to salt stress. In this review, we discuss recent papers investigating the role of Si in modulating molecular, biochemical, and physiological processes that are negatively affected by high salinity.

Recent Updates on ALMT Transporters' Physiology, Regulation, and Molecular Evolution in Plants.

Aluminium toxicity and phosphorus deficiency in soils are the main interconnected problems of modern agriculture. The aluminium-activated malate transporters (ALMTs) comprise a membrane protein family that demonstrates various physiological functions in plants, such as tolerance to environmental Al and the regulation of stomatal movement. Over the past few decades, the regulation of ALMT family proteins has been intensively studied.

The Role of Anthocyanins in Plant Tolerance to Drought and Salt Stresses.

Drought and salinity affect various biochemical and physiological processes in plants, inhibit plant growth, and significantly reduce productivity. The anthocyanin biosynthesis system represents one of the plant stress-tolerance mechanisms, activated by surplus reactive oxygen species. Anthocyanins act as ROS scavengers, protecting plants from oxidative damage and enhancing their sustainability.

The regulation of plant cell wall organisation under salt stress.

Plant cell wall biosynthesis is a complex and tightly regulated process. The composition and the structure of the cell wall should have a certain level of plasticity to ensure dynamic changes upon encountering environmental stresses or to fulfil the demand of the rapidly growing cells. The status of the cell wall is constantly monitored to facilitate optimal growth through the activation of appropriate stress response mechanisms.

Metabolites Facilitating Adaptation of Desert Cyanobacteria to Extremely Arid Environments.

Desert is one of the harshest environments on the planet, characterized by exposure to daily fluctuations of extreme conditions (such as high temperature, low nitrogen, low water, high salt, etc.). However, some cyanobacteria are able to live and flourish in such conditions, form communities, and facilitate survival of other organisms.

Recent updates on the physiology and evolution of plant TPK/KCO channels.

Plant vacuoles are the main cellular reservoirs to store K+ . The vacuolar K+ channels play a pivotal role in K+ exchange between cytosol and vacuolar sap. Among vacuolar K+ transporters, the Two Pore Potassium Channels (TPKs) are highly selective K+ channels present in most or all plant vacuoles and could be involved in various plant stress responses and developmental processes.

Evolution of the Membrane Transport Protein Domain.

Membrane transport proteins are widely present in all living organisms, however, their function, transported substrate, and mechanism of action are unknown. Here we use diverse bioinformatics tools to investigate the evolution of MTPs, analyse domain organisation and loop topology, and study the comparative alignment of modelled 3D structures. Our results suggest a high level of conservancy between MTPs from different taxa on both amino acids and structural levels, which imply some degree of functional similarities.

New Insights into Plant TPK Ion Channel Evolution.

Potassium (K) is a crucial element of plant nutrition, involved in many physiological and molecular processes. K membrane transporters are playing a pivotal role in K transport and tissue distribution as well as in various plant stress responses and developmental processes. Two-pore K-channels (TPKs) are essential to maintain plant K homeostasis and are mainly involved in potassium transport from the vacuoles to the cytosol.

Evolution of the Cytokinin Dehydrogenase (CKX) Domain.

Plant hormone cytokinins are important regulators of plant development, response to environmental stresses and interplay with other plant hormones. Cytokinin dehydrogenases (CKXs) are proteins responsible for the irreversible break-down of cytokinins to the adenine and aldehyde. Even though plant CKXs have been extensively studied, homologous proteins from other taxa remain mainly uncharacterised.

Evolution of Plant Na-P-Type ATPases: From Saline Environments to Land Colonization.

Soil salinity is one of the major factors obstructing the growth and development of agricultural crops. Eukaryotes have two main transport systems involved in active Na removal: cation/H antiporters and Na-P-type ATPases. Key transport proteins, Na/K-P-ATPases, are widely distributed among the different taxa families of pumps which are responsible for keeping cytosolic Na concentrations below toxic levels.

Adaptation Strategies of Halophytic Barley ssp. to High Salinity and Osmotic Stress.

The adaptation strategies of halophytic seaside barley to high salinity and osmotic stress were investigated by nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, as well as ionomic, metabolomic, and transcriptomic approaches. When compared with cultivated barley, seaside barley exhibited a better plant growth rate, higher relative plant water content, lower osmotic pressure, and sustained photosynthetic activity under high salinity, but not under osmotic stress. As seaside barley is capable of controlling Na and Cl concentrations in leaves at high salinity, the roots appear to play the central role in salinity adaptation, ensured by the development of thinner and likely lignified roots, as well as fine-tuning of membrane transport for effective management of restriction of ion entry and sequestration, accumulation of osmolytes, and minimization of energy costs.

Phylogenetic Diversity and Physiological Roles of Plant Monovalent Cation/H Antiporters.

The processes of plant nutrition, stress tolerance, plant growth, and development are strongly dependent on transport of mineral nutrients across cellular membranes. Plant membrane transporters are key components of these processes. Among various membrane transport proteins, the monovalent cation proton antiporter (CPA) superfamily mediates a broad range of physiological and developmental processes such as ion and pH homeostasis, development of reproductive organs, chloroplast operation, and plant adaptation to drought and salt stresses.

Plant Salinity Stress: Many Unanswered Questions Remain.

Salinity is a major threat to modern agriculture causing inhibition and impairment of crop growth and development. Here, we not only review recent advances in salinity stress research in plants but also revisit some basic perennial questions that still remain unanswered. In this review, we analyze the physiological, biochemical, and molecular aspects of Na and Cl uptake, sequestration, and transport associated with salinity.

Calcium transport across plant membranes: mechanisms and functions.

Contents Summary 49 I. Introduction 49 II. Physiological and structural characteristics of plant Ca -permeable ion channels 50 III.

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It was shown phenotypic changes in the root system of seedlings Arabidopsis thaliana in transgenic lines with overexpression and suppressed gene expression of serine-threonine protein kinase KIN10 in conditions of energy shortage and under normal conditions. The normal growth and development of KIN10 overexpressing plants with in energy deficiency conditions were detected. The significant inhibition of the plant development under normal conditions for these plant lines was obsereved.

CONSTRUCTION AND APPLICATIONS OF A MYCORRHIZAL ARBUSCULAR SPECIFIC cDNA LIBRARY.

To exploit the potential benefits of mycorrhizas, we need to investigate the processes that occur in these symbiotic interactions, particularly in the arbuscular compartment where nutrients are exchanged between the plant and the fungus. Progress in this area is restricted due to the intricacy and complexity of this plant-fungus interface and many techniques that have been employed successfully in other plants and animal systems cannot be used. An effective approach to study processes in arbuscules is to examine transcript composition and dynamics.

Arabidopsis thaliana vacuolar TPK channels form functional K⁺ uptake pathways in Escherichia coli.

Very few vacuolar two pore potassium channels (TPKs) have been functionally characterized. In this paper we have used complementation of K(+) uptake deficient Escherichia coli mutant LB2003 to analyze the functional properties of Arabidopsis thaliana TPK family members. The four isoforms of AtTPKs were cloned and expressed in LB2003 E.

Heterologous expression of the yeast arsenite efflux system ACR3 improves Arabidopsis thaliana tolerance to arsenic stress.

• Arsenic contamination has a negative impact on crop cultivation and on human health. As yet, no proteins have been identified in plants that mediate the extrusion of arsenic. Here, we heterologously expressed the yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) arsenite efflux transporter ACR3 into Arabidopsis to evaluate how this affects plant tolerance and tissue arsenic contents.

Membrane localisation diversity of TPK channels and their physiological role.

Potassium (K) is one of the major nutrients that is essential for plant growth and development. The majority of cellular K+ resides in the vacuole and tonoplast K+ channels of the TPK (Two Pore K) family are main players in cellular K+ homeostasis. All TPK channels were previously reported to be expressed in the tonoplast of the large central lytic vacuole (LV) except for one isoform in Arabidopsis that resides in the plasma membrane.

Over-expression of an Na+-and K+-permeable HKT transporter in barley improves salt tolerance.

Soil salinity is an increasing menace that affects agriculture across the globe. Plant adaptation to high salt concentrations involves integrated functions, including control of Na+ uptake, translocation and compartmentalization. Na+ transporters belonging to the HKT family have been shown to be involved in tolerance to mild salt stress in glycophytes such as Arabidopsis, wheat and rice by contributing to Na+ exclusion from aerial tissues.

Arsenite transport in plants.

Arsenic is a metalloid which is toxic to living organisms. Natural occurrence of arsenic and human activities have led to widespread contamination in many areas of the world, exposing a large section of the human population to potential arsenic poisoning. Arsenic intake can occur through consumption of contaminated crops and it is therefore important to understand the mechanisms of transport, metabolism and tolerance that plants display in response to arsenic.

Overlapping expression patterns and differential transcript levels of phosphate transporter genes in arbuscular mycorrhizal, Pi-fertilised and phytohormone-treated Medicago truncatula roots.

A microarray carrying 5,648 probes of Medicago truncatula root-expressed genes was screened in order to identify those that are specifically regulated by the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Gigaspora rosea, by P(i) fertilisation or by the phytohormones abscisic acid and jasmonic acid. Amongst the identified genes, 21% showed a common induction and 31% a common repression between roots fertilised with P(i) or inoculated with the AM fungus G. rosea, while there was no obvious overlap in the expression patterns between mycorrhizal and phytohormone-treated roots.