Transporters And Plant Osmotic Stress

Transporters and Plant Osmotic Stress focuses on the potential negative impact of abiotic stresses on plant health and crop yield. The book focuses on the current state of knowledge of the biochemical and molecular regulation of several classes of membrane transporters during different osmotic stresses and their probable mechanisms of operation in plant stress tolerance. The comprehensive discussion presented in this book highlights steps appropriate for mitigating multiple forms of abiotic stresses utilizing transporter proteins. Edited by leading experts and authored by top researchers from around the world, Transporters and Plant Osmotic Stress will be valuable to researchers, academicians, and scientists to enhance their knowledge and inspire further research in the field of transporters with respect to abiotic stress responses. It is complimented by its companion book titled Metal and Nutrient Transporters in Abiotic Stress. Focuses exclusively on transporter proteins involved in multiple environmental stresses in plants Explains exploiting transporters in crop improvement programs through transgenic technology against different stresses like salt, dehydration and temperature impacts Serves as an important source of information in the field of osmotic stress

PHYSIOLOGY OF SALT STRESS IN PLANTS Discover how soil salinity affects plants and other organisms and the techniques used to remedy the issue In Physiology of Salt Stress in Plants, an editorial team of internationally renowned researchers delivers an extensive exploration of the problem of soil salinity in modern agricultural practices. It also discusses the social and environmental issues caused by salt stress. The book covers the impact of salt on soil microorganisms, crops, and other plants, and presents that information alongside examinations of salt’s effects on other organisms, including aquatic fauna, terrestrial animals, and human beings. Physiology of Salt Stress in Plants describes the morphological, anatomical, physiological, and biochemical dimensions of increasing soil salinity. It also discusses potential remedies and encourages further thought and exploration of this issue. Readers are encouraged to consider less hazardous fertilizers and pesticides, to use safer doses, and to explore and work upon salt resistant varieties of plants. Readers will also benefit from the inclusion of: Thorough introductions to salt stress perception and toxicity levels and the effects of salt stress on the physiology of crop plants at a cellular level Explorations of the effects of salt stress on the biochemistry of crop plants and salt ion transporters in crop plants at a cellular level Practical discussions of salt ion and nutrient interactions in crop plants, including prospective signalling, and the effects of salt stress on the morphology, anatomy, and gene expression of crop plants An examination of salt stress on soil chemistry and the plant-atmosphere continuum Perfect for researchers, academics, and students working and studying in the fields of agriculture, botany, entomology, biotechnology, soil science, and plant physiology, Physiology of Salt Stress in Plants will also earn a place on the bookshelves of agronomists, crop scientists, and plant biochemists.

The prospect of future climate change has stimulated research into the physiological responses of plants to stress. Water is a key factor controlling the distribution and abundance of plants. This book brings together contributions from a range of experts who have worked on the cavitation of water in the transport system.

Metal and Nutrient Transporters in Abiotic Stress focuses on the different forms of environmental stress related to heavy metal, metalloid and nutrient deficiency that have the potential to inflict major damages to crop plants, leading to a massive decrease in crop yield and productivity. The book presents the current state of knowledge of the biochemical and molecular regulation of several classes of membrane transporters related to the uptake of metals/metalloids and nutrient elements during different stresses and their probable mechanisms of operation in plant stress tolerance. Metal and Nutrient Transporters in Abiotic Stress provides a comprehensive discussion that will help in mitigating multiple forms of stresses utilizing transporter proteins. Edited by leading experts and written by a global team of knowledgeable contributors, this book will further stimulate research in the field of transporter proteins and will foster further interests for researchers, academicians and scientists worldwide. It is complimented by its companion book titled Transporters and Plant Osmotic Stress. Focuses exclusively on metal and nutrient transporters involved in multiple environmental stresses in plants Explains exploiting transporters in crop improvement programs through transgenic technology against different stresses such as heavy metal, metalloid and nutrient deficiency Serves as an important source of information in the field of abiotic stress

Life presumably arose in the primeval oceans with similar or even greater salinity than the present ocean, so the ancient cells were designed to withstand salinity. However, the immediate ancestors of land plants most likely lived in fresh, or slightly brackish, water. The fresh/brackish water origins might explain why many land plants, including some cereals, can withstand moderate salinity, but only 1 – 2 % of all the higher plant species were able to re-discover their saline origins again and survive at increased salinities close to that of seawater. From a practical side, salinity is among the major threats to agriculture, having been one of the reasons for the demise of the ancient Mesopotamian Sumer civilisation and in the present time causing huge annual economic losses of over 10 billion USD. The effects of salinity on plants include osmotic stress, disruption of membrane ion transport, direct toxicity of high cytoplasmic concentrations of sodium and chloride on cellular processes and induced oxidative stress. Ion transport is the crucial starting point that determines salinity tolerance in plants. Transport via membranes is mediated mostly by the ion channels and transporters, which ensure selective passage of specific ions. The molecular and structural diversity of these ion channels and transporters is amazing. Obtaining the detailed descriptions of distinct ion channels and transporters present in halophytes, marine algae and salt-tolerant fungi and then progressing to the cellular and the whole organism mechanisms, is one of the logical ways to understand high salinity tolerance. Transfer of the genes from halophytes to agricultural crops is a means to increase salt tolerance of the crops. The theoretical scientific approaches involve protein chemistry, structure-function relations of membrane proteins, synthetic biology, systems biology and physiology of stress and ion homeostasis. At the time of compiling this e-book many aspects of ion transport under salinity stress are not yet well understood. The e-book has attracted researchers in ion transport and salinity tolerance. We have combined our efforts to achieve a wider, more detailed understanding of salt tolerance in plants mediated by ion transport, to understand present and future ways to modify and manipulate ion transport and salinity tolerance and also to find natural limits for the modifications.

As plant physiology increased steadily in the latter half of the 19th century, problems of absorption and transport of water and of mineral nutrients and problems of the passage of metabolites from one cell to another were investigated, especially in Germany. JUSTUS VON LIEBIG, who was born in Darmstadt in 1803, founded agricultural chemistry and developed the techniques of mineral nutrition in agricul ture during the 70 years of his life. The discovery of plasmolysis by NAGEL! (1851), the investigation of permeability problems of artificial membranes by TRAUBE (1867) and the classical work on osmosis by PFEFFER (1877) laid the foundations for our understanding of soluble substances and osmosis in cell growth and cell mechanisms. Since living membranes were responsible for controlling both water movement and the substances in solution, "permeability" became a major topic for investigation and speculation. The problems then discussed under that heading included passive permeation by diffusion, Donnan equilibrium adjustments, active transport processes and antagonism between ions. In that era, when organelle isolation by differential centrifugation was unknown and the electron microscope had not been invented, the number of cell membranes, their thickness and their composition, were matters for conjecture. The nature of cell surface membranes was deduced with remarkable accuracy from the reactions of cells to substances in solution. In 1895, OVERTON, in U. S. A. , published the hypothesis that membranes were probably lipid in nature because of the greater penetration by substances with higher fat solubility.

Water stress in plants is caused by the water deficit, as induced possibly by drought or high soil salinity. The prime consequence of water stress in plants is the disruption in the agricultural production, resulting in food shortage. The plants, however, try to adapt to the stress conditions using biochemical and physiological interventions. The edited compilation is an attempt to provide new insights into the mechanism and adaptation aspects of water stress in plants through a thoughtful mixture of viewpoints. We hope that the content of the book will be useful for the researchers working with the plant diversity-related environmental aspects and also provide suggestions for the strategists.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the multiple strategies that plants have developed to cope with drought, one of the most severe environmental stresses. Experts in the field present 17 chapters, each of which focuses on a basic concept as well as the latest findings. The following major aspects are covered in the book: · Morphological and anatomical adaptations · Physiological responses · Biochemical and molecular responses · Ecophysiological responses · Responses to drought under field conditions The contributions will serve as an invaluable source of information for researchers and advanced students in the fields of plant sciences, agriculture, ecophysiology, biochemistry and molecular biology.

How plants perceive and respond to water loss on a molecular level is a fundamental question in plant biology. Understanding the cellular signaling mechanism involved in sensing dehydration and initiating adaptive responses provides a tool for plant biologists to use in engineering crops with enhanced drought tolerance and water use efficiency as well as with developing new chemical approaches towards alleviating the negative effects of drought on crop yields. The increasing frequency and severity of drought, along with the depletion of fresh water resources, fortifies the need to understand the molecular networks that control drought response in plants. Currently the molecular mechanisms involved in the initial perception of dehydration are poorly understood. In this dissertation I present my work towards identifying previously unknown proteins involved in the initial dehydration response, using mass spectrometry based quantitative proteomic and reverse genetic approaches. Employing the model system Arabidopsis thaliana and hyperosmotic stress conditions to simulate water loss, I first identified proteins whose level of phosphorylation changes in response to short-term stress treatments, using quantitative untargeted mass spectrometry based phosphoproteomics technologies. From this work I identified proteins whose phosphorylation state changed within 5 minutes of stress treatment. To further characterize these proteins, I developed targeted proteomic assays to more routinely measure protein phosphorylated across many biotic and abiotic stress conditions. From this analysis I characterized a set of proteins that are uniquely regulated at the posttranslational level by rapid dehydration. These proteins are involved in cellular process such as mRNA degradation, microtubule restructuring, transcription factor activation, phospholipid signaling, and mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling and help elucidate the role that these processes play in the initial dehydration response. This work is presented in Chapter 2 of my dissertation. To validate the biological significance of proteins identified in my phosphoproteome analysis, I used reverse genetics to investigate Vac14, an uncharacterized protein in plants that displayed the largest change in phosphorylation under osmotic stress conditions. Vac14 is a highly conserved protein involved in the biosynthesis of the low abundant phospholipid phosphatidylinositol-3,5 bisphosphate, which regulates vacuole function and endomembrane vesicle transport in yeast and mammals. I demonstrate that Vac14 is an essential gene in plants and is responsible for regulating water homeostasis in cells. Vac14 overexpression mutants have increased drought tolerance and improved ability to germinate under water- limited conditions. This work is presented in Chapter 3 and supports the biological significance of proteins identified in my discovery phosphoproteomic work in Chapter 2. Finally, in Chapter 4 I describe my preliminary results in developing a new method for detecting proteins involved in cell signaling events through direct measurement of protein conformational changes. This method uses thermal denaturation profiling and untargeted quantitative mass spectrometry to identify proteins whose conformation has changed in response to in vitro or in vivo treatment conditions. Together, the data presented in this thesis demonstrate the utility of mass spectrometric based proteomic technologies for discovering previously unidentified proteins involved in cell signaling events and provides valuable insight into pathways activated during the initial few minutes of the osmotic stress response in plants.

Plants are subjected to a variety of abiotic stresses such as drought, temperature, salinity, air pollution, heavy metals, UV radiations, etc. To survive under these harsh conditions plants are equipped with different resistance mechanisms which vary from species to species. Due to the environmental fluctuations agricultural and horticultural crops are often exposed to different environmental stresses leading to decreased yield and problems in the growth and development of the crops. Drought stress has been found to decrease the yield to an alarming rate of some important crops throughout the globe. During last few decades, lots of physiological and molecular works have been conducted under water stress in crop plants. Water Stress and Crop Plants: A Sustainable Approach presents an up-to-date in-depth coverage of drought and flooding stress in plants, including the types, causes and consequences on plant growth and development. It discusses the physiobiochemical, molecular and omic approaches, and responses of crop plants towards water stress. Topics include nutritional stress, oxidative stress, hormonal regulation, transgenic approaches, mitigation of water stress, approaches to sustainability, and modern tools and techniques to alleviate the water stress on crop yields. This practical book offers pragmatic guidance for scientists and researchers in plant biology, and agribusinesses and biotechnology companies dealing with agronomy and environment, to mitigate the negative effects of stress and improve yield under stress. The broad coverage also makes this a valuable guide enabling students to understand the physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms of environmental stress in plants.