Repeated evolution of salt-tolerance in grasses

Bennett, Thomas H.; Flowers, T. J.; Bromham, Lindell

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2013.0029

Cited by 68 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…One uses molecular tools to identify genes involved in stresstolerance [9,10] and another uses phylogenetics to investigate the evolution of salt-tolerance [1,11,12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Salt- and alkaline-tolerance are linked in Acacia

2014

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Saline or alkaline soils present a strong stress on plants that together may be even more deleterious than alone. Australia's soils are old and contain large, sometimes overlapping, areas of high salt and alkalinity. Acacia and other Australian plant lineages have evolved in this stressful soil environment and present an opportunity to understand the evolution of salt and alkalinity tolerance. We investigate this evolution by predicting the average soil salinity and pH for 503 Acacia species and mapping the response onto a maximum-likelihood phylogeny. We find that salinity and alkalinity tolerance have evolved repeatedly and often together over 25 Ma of the Acacia radiation in Australia. Geographically restricted species are often tolerant of extreme conditions. Distantly related species are sympatric in the most extreme soil environments, suggesting lack of niche saturation. There is strong evidence that many Acacia have distributions affected by salinity and alkalinity and that preference is lineage specific.

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“…One uses molecular tools to identify genes involved in stresstolerance [9,10] and another uses phylogenetics to investigate the evolution of salt-tolerance [1,11,12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Salt- and alkaline-tolerance are linked in Acacia

2014

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“…The stress resistance syndrome hypothesis [11] could explain, at least in part, the striking pattern which emerged from our study that salt tolerance has evolved often in a wide range of grasses [2]. C 4 photosynthesis has also evolved independently many times in grasses [12].…”

mentioning

confidence: 79%

“…We described the 'paradox' of salt tolerance; that it evolves often in nature but is hard to breed into crops [2], although there has been recent success in increasing the tolerance of wheat on salt-affected soils in Australia [3]. Bui suggests that one reason for lack of success in breeding salt-tolerant crops is that researchers have focused primarily on sodium chloride in soil and have paid less attention to the effect of alkalinity.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If this were the case, then selecting for salt tolerance in crops may incidentally confer a degree of tolerance to alkalinity or drought stress. Ideally, rather than investigating the phylogenetic distribution of tolerance to one particular stress, such as salinity [2], we should consider the distribution of tolerance to a range of environmental stresses. This may permit us to identify lineages that can readily adapt to a variety of harsh environments or traits that confer multiple stress tolerances.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Soil alkalinity and salt tolerance: adapting to multiple stresses

et al. 2013

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“…Bennett et al [1] present the phylogenetic distribution of salt-tolerant species on a phylogeny of 2684 grasses in the context of plant breeding for salt-tolerance. Salt-tolerance, they conclude, is an evolutionary labile trait that has evolved a number of times across many lineages; this is at odds with the record of difficulty in breeding salt-tolerant crops.…”

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confidence: 99%

Possible role of soil alkalinity in plant breeding for salt-tolerance

Bui

2013

Biol. Lett.

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Bennett et al.[1] present the phylogenetic distribution of salt-tolerant species on a phylogeny of 2684 grasses in the context of plant breeding for salt-tolerance. Salt-tolerance, they conclude, is an evolutionary labile trait that has evolved a number of times across many lineages; this is at odds with the record of difficulty in breeding salt-tolerant crops.One potential explanation for this disconnect is the association between soil salinity and alkalinity; many saline soils are also alkaline due to the presence of sodium (Na)-carbonates (see [2] for a review of salt-affected soils). Combined alkaline and salt-stresses are more deleterious to plant growth than salinity alone [3][4][5]. Thus, the failure of laboratory-bred NaCl-tolerant cultivars to give good yields under field conditions may reflect combined soil sodicity and alkalinity. Indeed, Yang et al. [4] have shown that for even for Chloris virgata, a natural alkali-resistant halophyte, the inhibitory effects of alkali stress (from NaHCO 3 and Na 2 CO 3 ) on relative growth rate and stored energy were significantly larger than those of salt-stress (from NaCl and Na 2 SO 4 ). Other Chloris species are tolerant of alkaline pH (e.g. Chloris gayana [6] and Chloris barbata [7]), and it would be interesting to see whether there is any evolutionary relationship between alkali-and salt-tolerance in Chloris and more widely in the Chloridoideae. Has there been coevolution of alkali-and salttolerance in grasses? If yes, this may provide new avenues for plant breeding for salt-tolerance.Both alkali-and salt-stress impact photosynthetic productivity and metabolism, but they may involve different physiological and molecular processes ([8 -11] and references therein). However, plant breeding efforts continue to focus on NaCl-tolerance [12]. In Australia, where decades of research on plant breeding for salt-tolerance have been invested, 50% of soils are calcareous [13] and therefore contain significant concentrations of carbonate and bicarbonate ions (alkalinity). Sodic soils occupy about 27% of Australia [14], including large tracts of agricultural land; most have calcareous subsoils. This implies that a wider range of salts and their potential interactions need to be considered if we are to successfully breed salt-tolerant crops that are high-yielding under field conditions. It also suggests that new breakthroughs in food security are likely to arise at the intersection of disciplines (plant and soil sciences).

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Repeated evolution of salt-tolerance in grasses

Cited by 68 publications

References 21 publications

Salt- and alkaline-tolerance are linked in Acacia

Salt- and alkaline-tolerance are linked in Acacia

Soil alkalinity and salt tolerance: adapting to multiple stresses

Possible role of soil alkalinity in plant breeding for salt-tolerance

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