Salinity is a continuing problem in the arid and semi-arid tracts of the world. It could be alleviated using irrigation management and/or crop management. However, the former approach is outdated and very expensive. Nevertheless, the latter is economical as well as efficient, and it enables to produce salt tolerant crop lines. But prior to that there is a need to confirm the presence of genetic based variation for salt tolerance among different species or varieties of a particular crop that can thrive under unreliable agro-ecological situations; tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc) Trotter] is one of such crops. Thus fifteen lowland tef genotypes (10 accessions and 5 varieties) were tested during germination and seedling stage at 2dS/m, 4dS/m, 8dS/m, 12dS/m and 16dS/m salinity levels. Distilled water (0dS/m) was used as a control. Data analysis was carried out using SAS package. Germination percentage (GP), germination rate (GR), seedling shoot length (SSL) and seedling root length (SRL) were measured. The analyzed data showed significant variation among most parameters recorded for accessions and varieties (p < 0.01) and for treatments (p < 0.001). Germination rate and seedling root length were more salt affected than final germination percentage and seedling shoot length respectively. The main cause for reduced and delayed germination percentage was osmotic effect. The ion effect was also learned to be minimal. Most accessions and varieties failed to germinate at 12dS/m and 16dS/m salinity levels. Thus, these salt concentrations were not important in screening tef genotypes for salt tolerance. Varieties such as DZ-01-1281, DZ-Cr-358 and accession 236512 were found to be salt sensitive. However, variety DZ-Cr-37 and accessions 237186, 237131 and 212928 were found to be salt tolerant. The rest accessions and varieties were intermediate in their salt tolerance. The study affirmed the presence of broad intraspecific variation among tef accessions and varieties for salt tolerance but more in the former.
Controlled delivery of molecules interfering specifically with target activities in a cell of interest can be a powerful tool for experimental manipulation, because it can be administered at a defined time point and does not require genetic transformation, which in some systems is difficult and time consuming. Peptides as versatile tools that can be tailored for binding numerous binding partners, are of special interest. However, their passage through membranes, their intracellular targeting, and their sensitivity to proteases is limiting. The use of peptoids, where cationic amino-acid side chains are linked to nitrogen (rather than to carbon) of the peptide bond, can circumvent these limitations, because they are not cleavable by proteases. In the current work, we provide a proof-of-concept that such Trojan Peptoids, the plant PeptoQ, can be used to target a functional cargo (i.e. a rhodamine-labelled peptoid and a coenzyme Q10 derivative) into mitochondria of tobacco BY-2 cells as experimental model. We show that the uptake is specific for mitochondria, rapid, dose-dependent, and requires clathrin-mediated endocytosis, as well as actin filaments, while microtubules seem to be dispensable. Viability of the treated cells is not affected, and they show better survival under salt stress, a condition that perturbs oxidative homeostasis in mitochondria. In congruence with improved homeostasis, we observe that the salt induced accumulation of superoxide is mitigated and even inverted by pretreatment with PeptoQ. Using double labelling with appropriate fluorescent markers, we show that targeting of this Trojan Peptoid to the mitochondria is not based on a passage through the plasma membrane (as thought hitherto), but on import via endocytotic vesicles and subsequent accumulation in the mitochondrial intermembrane space, from where it can enter the matrix, e.g. when the permeability of the inner membrane is increased under salt stress.
Salinity is a serious challenge to global agriculture and threatens human food security. plant cells can respond to salt stress either by activation of adaptive responses, or by programmed cell death. the mechanisms deciding the respective response are far from understood, but seem to depend on the degree, to which mitochondria can maintain oxidative homeostasis. Using plant peptoQ, a Trojan Peptoid, as vehicle, it is possible to transport a coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) derivative into plant mitochondria. We show that salinity stress in tobacco BY-2 cells (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv Bright Yellow-2) can be mitigated by pretreatment with plant PeptoQ with respect to numerous aspects including proliferation, expansion, redox homeostasis, and programmed cell death. We tested the salinity response for transcripts from nine salt-stress related-genes representing different adaptive responses. While most did not show any significant response, the salt response of the transcription factor NtNAC, probably involved in mitochondrial retrograde signaling, was significantly modulated by the plant peptoQ. Most strikingly, transcripts for the mitochondrial, Mn-dependent Superoxide Dismutase were rapidly and drastically upregulated in presence of the peptoid, and this response was disappearing in presence of salt. the same pattern, albeit at lower amplitude, was seen for the sodium exporter SOS1. The findings are discussed by a model, where plant PeptoQ modulates retrograde signalling to the nucleus leading to a strong expression of mitochondrial SoD, what renders mitochondria more resilient to perturbations of oxidative balance, such that cells escape salt induced cell death and remain viable. By the year 2050, world agriculture should be able to boost production of food crops by 70% to feed the projected 9.1 billion people 1. Salt stress is one of the major challenges to this effort and has already affected 20% of cultivated land worldwide. Global warming and suboptimal irrigation accentuate the problem 2,3. The molecular, cellular, and physiological mechanisms underlying the severe effect of salinity on plant growth, development and yield have been reviewed comprehensively 3-5. Based on their response to salt stress, plants are categorised into the tolerant halophytes and the sensitive glycophytes. Unfortunately, most of the crop species belong to the
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