Response of Populus x canescens (Populus tremula x alba) to high concentration of NaCl stress

Populus x canescens was cultivated on solid substrate and treated by salt （150 mM NaCl）. The growth parameters including new leaf formation, height increment, diameter at the base increment, fresh and dry mass of leaf, stem, coarse root, and fine root were determined. The nutrient elements in leaves of samples under salt stress and the control, and the chlorophyll fluorescence of plants separated dark and light, initial fluorescence （Fo）, and maximum fluorescence （Fro） were measured. Results showed that 150 mM NaCI treatment resulted in growth reduction of Populus x canescens. Nutrient element contents in the foliage of plants under salt stress were different from that of control. The foliar N-concentrations of plants under salt stress were not affected. Contents of Na under salt stress were 120 times as much as that under control. However, contents of S, K, P, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn under salt stress were less than that under control. Salt stress caused damage in the PSII reaction centers, i.e. photo-inhibition couldn＇t be repaired under dark situation. The yield of chlorophyll fluorescence showed that several parameters associated with PSII functions, e.g. Fv/Fo, Fv/Fm were not influenced at the first stage of salt stress treatment. However, after a period of time, PSII functions were significantly inhibited, which led to the decrease of carbon assimilation. These results suggest that salt stress （150 mM NaCl） did not affect photosynthetic chlorophyll fluorescence of Populus x canescens immediately. After four day of salt stress, PSII reaction centres were seriously damaged during photo-inhibition.

Transgenic Poplar Plants for the Investigation of ABA-Dependent Salt and Drought Stress Adaptation in Trees

Important functions of the plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) in stress reactions, growth and photosynthetic processes are extensively studied in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. This paper investigates the importance of Moco-sulphurase ABA3 and aldehyde oxidase (AO) on ABA-biosynthesis in Populus × canescens. ABA3 is essential for activation of the molybdenum enzymes AO and xanthine dehydrogenase (XDH). AO itself catalyzes the last step in ABA-biosynthesis. Generation of transgenic poplar plants altered in ABA3 and AO-activity using RNAi knock down and overexpression was performed. Whereas RNAi-AO plants show a specific loss of AO activity, the RNAi-ABA3 plants has a strongly reduced activity of both molybdenum enzymes: AO and XDH. Constructs of AO and ABA3-promoters fused to β-glucuronidase provide the basis to investigate transcriptional regulation of ABA-biosynthetic processes under stress conditions. Application of high salt concentrations and different drought stress intensities does change the endogenous AO or XDH neither on the side of transcription nor on protein activity. On phytohormone level however, water loss leads to increased ABA-amounts regardless of whether transgenic or wildtype plants are studied. Salt application resulted in higher ABA-levels in all analyzed plant lines. The down regulation of AO in the two different RNAi-plant lines strongly prevented a wildtype-like increase of ABA-levels. Whereas the WT plants accumulated up to 6000 ng ABA g-1 FW-1 after 16 h of salt stress exposure, plants of the RNAi lines revealed a markedly lower increase of only up to 2000 ng ABA g-1 FW-1. Opposing to these observations, ABA-levels increased during drought without any influence by the RNAi-effect. These results revealed that although stresses did not result in a visible increased AO-activity, ABA-production was influenced by AO and ABA3 at least under salinity.