Jerusalem, Israel
June 12, 2007
A method for increasing plants’
tolerance to salt stress and thus preventing stunted growth and
even plant death has been developed by researchers at the
Hebrew University of
Jerusalem. The method has significant consequences for dealing
with soil salinization, which is an acute problem for a wide
range of crops in different regions of the world, including
Israel.
The problem is largely exasperated by intense agriculture and
irrigation. Salinity drives the plant into water deficit and is
accompanied by toxicity of sodium and chloride ions, resulting
in restricted growth and reduction in yield. Moreover, salt
stress causes a secondary oxidative stress, resulting in the
more severe cases in plant death.
Through detailed laboratory studies, Prof. Alex Levine and his
Ph.D. student Yehoram Leshem, of the Department of Plant and
Environmental Sciences at the Alexander Silberman Institute of
Life Sciences at the Hebrew University, were able to achieve a
new understanding of the specific mechanisms by which plants
deal with salt stress conditions.
Based on this knowledge, and through implementation of genetic
manipulation techniques, Levine and Leshem were successful in
significantly reducing the self-induced membrane damage that
takes place under the plants’ stressful conditions. The altered
plants were also shown to have greater salt tolerance.
The work by Levine and Leshem – published in a recent article in
the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in the U.S. -- not only has
opened new insights into a basic understanding of plant
responses to salt stress, but also points the way to new
applicative pathways for plant breeders to improve salt
tolerance in a broad spectrum of agricultural crops. It thus
represents a significant step forward that can bring great
economic and social benefit to many nations of the world. |
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