New proteins have been found to save plants facing with high salt problem

Studies before show that high salt in soil dramatically stresses plant biology and reduces the growth and yield of crops. A study led by professor Staffan Persson, from University of Melbourne, Australia, formerly at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, found specific proteins that allow plants to grow better under salt stress, and may help breed future generations of more salt-tolerant crop plants.

Humans can move away from the salty snacks or drink more water, but if a plant is stuck in high salt (or saline) soils, it must use other tactics to cope. More and more of the world' crops are facing salt stress with high salt in soils (also known as salinity) affecting 20% of the total, and 33% of irrigated, agricultural lands worldwide. We need to increase production of food by 70% to feed an additional 2.3 billion people by 2050. Salinity is a major limiting factor for this goal as more than 50% of the arable land may be salt afflicted by the year 2050. Thus finding genes and mechanisms that can improve plant growth under such conditions is of utmost urgency.

"Plants need to make bigger cells and more of them if they want to grow and develop, " said Prof Persson.

"Unlike animal cells, plant cells are surrounded by a cellular exoskeleton, called cell walls which direct plant growth and protect the plant against diseases. Importantly, most of the plants biomass is made up of the cell wall with cellulose being the major component.

"Hence, plant growth largely depend on the ability of plants to produce cell walls and cellulose, also under stress conditions, and it is therefore no surprise that research on cell wall biosynthesis is of high priority."
The present study shows that an previously unknown family of proteins supports the cellulose synthase machinery under salt stress conditions, and was named "Companions of Cellulose synthase (CC). These CC proteins are part of the cellulose synthase complex during cellulose synthesis. The researchers found that the CC gene activity was increased when plants were exposed to high salt concentrations.

"In an additional step, we made fluorescent versions of the CC proteins and observed, with the help of a special microscope, where and how they function. It was quite a surprise to see that they were able to maintain the organization of microtubules under salt stress. This function helped the plants to maintain cellulose synthesis during the stress", said Dr. Anne Endler, co-first author of this study.

The research group proved that the plants lacking the CC activity were unable to maintain their microtubules intact. The loss in microtubule function led to a failure in maintaining cellulose synthesis, which explained the reduction in plant growth on salt.

The results of the study provide a mechanism for how the CC proteins aid plant biomass production under salt stress and help plants to grow on salt. The team has identified a protein family that helps plants to grow on salt, and outlined a mechanism for how these proteins aid the plants to produce their biomass under salt stress conditions. The study was published the day before yesterday in the journal Cell.

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