Salinity-Triggered Responses in Plant Apical Meristems for Developmental Plasticity

Abstract

Salt stress severely affects plant growth and development. The plant growth and development of a sessile organism are continuously regulated and reformed in response to surrounding environmental stress stimuli, including salinity. In plants, postembryonic development is derived mainly from primary apical meristems of shoots and roots. Therefore, to understand plant tolerance and adaptation under salt stress conditions, it is essential to determine the stress response mechanisms related to growth and development based on the primary apical meristems. This paper reports that the biological roles of microRNAs, redox status, reactive oxygen species (ROS), nitric oxide (NO), and phytohormones, such as auxin and cytokinin, are important for salt tolerance, and are associated with growth and development in apical meristems. Moreover, the mutual relationship between the salt stress response and signaling associated with stem cell homeostasis in meristems is also considered.

The Morphological Parameters and Cytosolic pH of Cells of Root Zones in Tobacco Plants (Nicotiana tabacum L.): Nonlinear Effects of NaCl Concentrations

“…This complex interplay inevitably influences the rate of cell division, cell expansion, and cell wall formation [56]. Furthermore, salt-induced alterations affect the hormonal balance of roots and have other effects on root development [4]. The effects of salinity reduced the rate of cell division also include chromatin condensation, damage to the nuclear membrane, cytoskeleton disruption, ROS production in the meristem [59,62].…”

“…The decline in plant yield is intricately connected to the negative influence of salt on growth and developmental processes [1,4]. It is known that salinity adversely affects essential physiological processes, such as photosynthesis, transpiration, and uptake of water and essential mineral elements [1,5,6].…”

“…However, the process of how roots detect and transmit salinity signals remains complex due to the unclear understanding of the primary sensors responsible for salt stress and their specific mechanisms [7]. It appears that root meristem plays a key role in root sensitivity to salinity [4,8,9]. A critical function of the root is the removal of excess sodium and chloride from water that will be subsequently transported to the shoots [10].…”

Maintenance of stem cell activity in plant development and stress responses

“…This multifaceted receptor-like kinase GSO1 -mediated mechanism is pivotal in preserving intracellular ion homeostasis and, by extension, normal root development, thereby enabling roots to sustain growth in adverse environments ( Chen et al., 2023 ). Concurrently, it is imperative to recognize that the resilience and adaptability of plant apical meristem cells to salt stress are inextricably linked with microRNAs, the redox state, ROS, NO, and plant hormones such as auxin and cytokinin ( Yang and Lee, 2023 ). Recent research has found that a prion-like domain (PrD) in the key shoot meristem regulator STM can stimulate it to form nuclear condensates which are required for maintaining the shoot meristem.…”

“…A comprehensive metabolome and transcriptome analysis of three CK signal-deficient Arabidopsis ahp2,3,5 and arr1,10,12 mutants treated with salt stress showed that CK signaling induced reprogramming of gene-metabolic networks associated with Arabidopsis response to salinity ( Abdelrahman et al., 2021 ). This intricate nexus highlights the correlation between salt stress response and signaling cascades that govern stem cell homeostasis in the plant meristem ( Yang and Lee, 2023 ).…”