Ion accumulation and expression of ion homeostasis-related genes associated with halophilism, NaCl-promoted growth in a halophyte Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.

Figures & data

Figure 1. Effects of NaCl on the growth of shoot and suspension-cultured cells in the ice plant.

Figure 2. Effects of NaCl and PEG on the growth of suspension-cultured cells.

Figure 3. The number of cells and cell size in the suspension cell cultures with NaCl.

Figure 4. Content of ions in suspension-cultured cells treated with different NaCl.

Figure 5. Correlation between the ion content and the fresh weight of cells grown under different NaCl.

Table 1. Sequence homolgy of putative orthologues of the ice plant to that of reference genes for CLC, CCC, and XTH from other plants.

Reference genes (GB No.)	Function	Putative orthologues in the ice plant^a	Homology	Plant species
GmCLC1 (AY972079.1)	Tonoplast Cl^−/H^+ antiporter	McCLC1	74%	Soybean
OsCCC1 (GU250733.)	Plasma membrane cation/Cl^− cotransporter	McCCC1	73%	Rice
PtXTH (XM_002318900)	Cell wall xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolase	McXTH	74%	Poplar

^a The cDNA sequences of McCLC1, McCCC1, and McXTH, which were identified from the cDNA database of the ice plant using BLAST search algorithm against the reference genes.

Figure 6. Relative transcript abundance of ion homeostasis-related genes in the cells.

Figure 7. A proposed model including ion homeostasis-related genes, which are as factors involved in uptake of Na⁺, Cl⁻, K⁺, NO₃⁻, synthesis of proline and ononitol, water incorporation, and cell wall elasticity in the ice plant.