Response of plants to salinity stress and the role of salicylic acid in modulating tolerance mechanisms: Physiological and proteomic approach

Abstract

Salinity is one of the most consequential stresses, which limits the productivity of agricultural crops and affects germination, plant strength, and crop yield. High salinity affects plants in several ways, such as water stress, ion toxicity, oxidative stress, alteration of metabolic processes, nutritional disorders, membrane disorganization, and reduction of cell division, expansion, and genotoxicity. Together all these effects reduce plant growth, development and survival. The mechanisms of genetic control by which plants tolerate the salt stress are very complex and have not yet properly understood. Plants have evolved several mechanisms to acclimatize to salinity. Several biomolecules have been discovered within plants that modulate mechanisms to effectively deal with salinity stress. One such compound is salicylic acid which has been extensively studied for its role in biotic stress and recently is in focus for abiotic stress tolerance research. A fundamental biological understanding and knowledge of the effects of salt stress on plants is necessary to provide additional information for the dissection of the plant response to salinity. The present chapter reviews plant response to salinity stress and the role of salicylic acid in modulating tolerance mechanisms especially at the molecular level. Recent advances in proteomic studies for elucidation of plant response are discussed.