Mechanisms of salt stress tolerance in Casuarina: a review of recent research

ABSTRACT

Salinization is a global concern whose extent is predicted to progressively increase over this century. In this context, biosaline agriculture has been included in the set of climate-smart solutions to support sustainable and resilient ecosystems. The Casuarinaceae family is widely known for its intrinsic ability to thrive under saline environments. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms underlying salt-tolerance in this family is of utmost importance for landscape integration and soil rehabilitation. In this mini-review, we present the state of the art of Casuarina research – from gene to ecosystem – in response to salinity, towards green growth and sustainable development. Based on literature retrieval from 2000 to 2021, a general overview of salt-stress tolerance in the Casuarinaceae is presented, and the extent of the contribution of root-nodule and arbuscular mycorrhizal symbioses, as well as the related eco-physiological and molecular changes are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Casuarinaceae
• ecophysiology
• omics
• rhizosphere
• salinity
• symbioses

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) through the COMPETE 2020—Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation and Portuguese national funds via FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Project PTDC/AGR-FOR/4218/2012, and the research units UIDP/04035/2020 (GeoBioTec), and UIDB/00239/2020 (CEF).