• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2023.04a
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• pp.156-156
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• 2023

Salinity is a major abiotic stress that limits rice productivity in many regions of the world. In order to develop salt stress tolerant rice plants, genetic engineering is a promising approach. We characterized the molecular function of rice C3H2C3 as a really interesting new gene (RING). Oryza sativa RING finger protein H2-3 (OsRFPH2-3) was highly expressed in 100 mM NaCl. To identify the localization of OsRFPH2-3, we fused vectors that include C-terminal GFP protein (35S;;OsRFPH2-3-GFP). OsRFPH2-3 was expressed in the nucleus in rice protoplasts. An in vitro ubiquitin assay demonstrated that OsRFPH2-3 possessed E3-ubiquitin ligase activity. However, the mutated OsRFPH2-3 were not possessed any E3-ubiquitin ligase activity. Under salinity conditions, OsRFPH2-3-overexpressing plants exhibited higher chlorophyll, proline, SOD, POD, CAT, and soluble sugar contents and lower H₂O₂ accumulation than wild-type plants, supporting transgenic plants with enhanced salinity tolerance phenotypes. OsRFPH2-3-overexpressing plants exhibited low Na+ accumulation and Na+/K+ ratios in their roots. Theses results suggest that overexpression of OsRFPH2-3 can make plant insensitivity about salinity conditions.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.355-367
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• 2016

Soil salinization refers to the buildup of salts in soil to a level toxic to plants. The major factors that contribute to soil salinity are the quality, the amount and the type of irrigation water used. The presented review discusses the different sources and causes of soil salinity. The effect of soil salinity on biological processes of plants is also discussed in detail. This is followed by a debate on the influence of salt on the nutrient uptake and growth of plants. Salinity decreases the soil osmotic potential and hinders water uptake by the plants. Soil salinity affects the plants K uptake, which plays a critical role in plant metabolism due to the high concentration of soluble sodium ($Na^+$) ions. Visual symptoms that appear in the plants as a result of salinity include stunted plant growth, marginal leaf necrosis and fruit distortions. Different strategies to ameliorate salt stress globally include breeding of salt tolerant cultivars, irrigation to leach excessive salt to improve soil physical and chemical properties. As part of an ecofriendly means to alleviate salt stress and an increasing considerable attention on this area, the review then focuses on the different plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) mediated mechanisms with a special emphasis on ACC deaminase producing bacteria. The various strategies adopted by PGPB to alleviate various stresses in plants include the production of different osmolytes, stress related phytohormones and production of molecules related to stress signaling such as bacterial 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) derivatives. The use of PGPB with ACC deaminase producing trait could be effective in promoting plant growth in agricultural areas affected by different stresses including salt stress. Finally, the review ends with a discussion on the various PGPB activities and the potentiality of facultative halophilic/halotolerant PGPB in alleviating salt stress.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.122-129
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• 2016

It is important to know the sensitivity of shrubs to de-icing salt in order to set guidelines for ecological tolerance of evergreen shrubs along roads. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the influence of de-icing salt, calcium chloride($CaCl_2$), on the growth and physiological characteristics of three evergreen shrubs, Euonymus japonica, Rhododendron indicum, and Buxus koreana. Plants were exposed to calcium chloride at different concentrations(weight percentage, 0% as control, 1.0%, 3.0%, and 5.0%) through amended soil maintained from the start of the experiment in October of 2014 until termination in March of 2015. The survival rate, plant height, leaf length, leaf width, leaf shape index, number of leaves, fresh weight, dry weight, dry matter, root/top ratio, chlorophyll contents, fluorescence, photosynthesis, stomatal conduct, and transpiration rate were recorded. Elevated calcium chloride concentrations decreased plant height, leaf length, leaf width, leaf shape index, fresh weight, dry weight, dry matter, and R/T ratio of the three shrubs. Root growth responded more sensitively than the top growth to salinity. However Euonymus japonica was more tolerant to salt stress than Rhododendron indicum and Buxus koreana. Their growths were totally inhibited by $CaCl_2$ above 3.0% and 1.0% concentrations, respectively. Chlorophyll content, fluorescence, photosynthesis, stomatal conduct, and transpiration rate of both Rhododendron indicum and Buxus koreana were reduced sharply, while Euonymus japonica exhibited mild reductions compared to plants grown in control when increasing calcium chloride was used. Especially, the transpiration rates of Rhododendron indicum, and the photosynthesis and stomatal conduct of Buxus koreana were suppressed as the concentrations of calcium chloride increased. Therefore, Euonymus japonica should be considered as an ecologically tolerant species with proven tolerance to de-icing salt.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.9
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• pp.1030-1041
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• 2018

Abiotic stresses limit the growth and productivity of plants. Cellular adaptation to abiotic stresses requires coordinated regulation in gene expression directed by complex mechanisms. This study used the activation tagging system to identify novel salt stress-responsive genes. The study selected 9 activation tagging lines that showed salt stress-tolerant phenotypes during their germination stages. Thermal asymmetric interlaced-PCR (TAIL-PCR) was used to identify the T-DNA tagging sites on the Arabidopsis genome in selected activation tagging lines, including AT7508, AT7512, AT7527, AT7544, AT7548, and AT7556. RT-PCR analysis showed that ClpC2/HSP93-III (At3g48870), plant thionin family (At2g20605), anti-muellerian hormone type-2 receptor (At3g50685), vacuolar iron transporter family protein (At4g27870), and microtubule-associated protein (At5g16730) were activated in AT7508, AT7512, AT7527, AT7544, and AT7556, respectively. Interestingly, in AT7548, both the genes adjacent to the T-DNA insertion site were activated: Arabinogalactan protein 13 (AGP13) (At4g26320) and F-box/RNI-like/FBD-like domains-containing protein (At4g26340). All of the seven genes were newly identified as salt stress-responsive genes from this study. Among them, the expression of ClpC2/HSP93-III, AGP13, F-box/RNI-like/FBD-like domains-containing protein gene, and microtubule-associated protein gene were increased under salt-stress condition. In addition, AT7508, AT7527, and AT7544 were more tolerant to salt stress than wild type at seedling development stage, functionally validating the screening results of the activation tagging lines. Taken together, our results demonstrate that the activation tagging system is useful for identifying novel stress-responsive genes.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.345-354
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of soil amendment treatments, such as hydroball, and active carbon, and planting Pennisetum alopecuroides for reducing calcium chloride (CaCl₂) of soil leachate and the growth of Pennisetum alopecuroides. The experiment planted Pennisetum alopecuroides in a plastic pot with a diameter of 10 cm and a height of 9 cm in a greenhouse April-October 2018. The experimental group comprised six treatments, including Non-treatment (Cont.), Hydroball (H), Active carbon (AC), planting Pennisetum alopecuroides (P), hydroball + planting Pennisetum alopecuroides (H + P), and active carbon + planting Pennisetum alopecuroides (AC + P). The dissolution of the CaCl₂ concentration 200ml of 10g/L was irrigated once every two weeks. We measured the growth (plant height, leaf length, leaf width, number of leaves), EC, pH, and exchangeable cations (K⁺, Ca²⁺, Na⁺, and Mg²⁺) according to the high concentration of CaCl₂ in the plant and soil leachate. In a treatment with the 'hydroball' amendment, the soil leachate electrical conductivity (EC), and the cation exchangeable were decreased more than those of the control, while the growth of Pennisetum alopecuroides relative growth rate(RGR) increased. Overall, application with the hydroball amendment added the planting of Pennisetum alopecuroides improved the salt reduction effect more than the control group. These results indicate that the application of the soil amendment agent hydroball was suitable soil amendments in accordance with the high concentration of calcium chloride (CaCl₂). Also, Planting Pennisetum alopecuroides is expected to be appropriate for salt-tolerant plant for soil affected by deicing salt agents.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.648-660
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• 2014

Doenjang, a traditional Korean fermented soybean paste, is made by mixing and ripening meju with high salt brine (approximately 18%). Meju is a naturally fermented soybean block prepared by soaking, steaming, and molding soybean. To understand living bacterial community migration and the roles of bacteria in the manufacturing process of doenjang, the diversity of culturable bacteria in meju and doenjang was examined using media supplemented with NaCl, and some physiological activities of predominant isolates were determined. Bacilli were the major bacteria involved throughout the entire manufacturing process from meju to doenjang; some of these bacteria might be present as spores during the doenjang ripening process. Bacillus siamensis was the most populous species of the genus, and Bacillus licheniformis exhibited sufficient salt tolerance to maintain its growth during doenjang ripening. Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium, the major lactic acid bacteria (LAB) identified in this study, did not continue to grow under high NaCl conditions in doenjang. Enterococci and certain species of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) were the predominant acid-producing bacteria in meju fermentation, whereas Tetragenococcus halophilus and CNS were the major acid-producing bacteria in doenjang fermentation. We conclude that bacilli, LAB, and CNS may be the major bacterial groups involved in meju fermentation and that these bacterial communities undergo a shift toward salt-tolerant bacilli, CNS, and T. halophilus during the doenjang fermentation process.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2018.10a
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• pp.100-100
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• 2018

Zoysia japonica Steud.(Zj) is a typical warm-season Korean lawn grass, which is used in many places such as river banks, roadside and soccer fields in Korea. Recently, it has also been used in school yards and the Saemangeum reclaimed land to reduce water pollution. Although the cultivated area of turfgrass is steadily increasing worldwide, it grows fast requiring frequent mowing and is difficult to grow in shady areas and the cold region. Therefore this study aims searching for useful gene(s) to develop abiotic stress tolerant and dwarf zoysiagrass. We isolated Ycf4 gene based on the sequence from Oryza sativa Japonica through RT-PCR and RACE PCR. Ultimately, open reading frame (ORF) of ZjYcf4 was 558bp long, encoding a protein of 186 amino acid residues. NCBI blast results showed that the ZjYcf4 protein is evolutionarily closely related to Ycf4 protein from Zoysia macrantha and Setaria italica (100% and 98%, respectively). To determine whether ZjYcf4 was involved in environmental stress in wild-type zoysiagrass, expression patterns of the gene were analyzed by real-time PCR under salt, cold and dark conditions. They were analyzed after each stress treatment for 3 hours. In salt and cold stresses, the expression was higher compared to control (3-fold and 1.5-fold, respectively), although there was a 1.6-fold decrease in expression under dark stress treatment. As reported previously, we suggest that ZjYcf4 gene affects abiotic stress such as salt, cold and dark.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.122-128
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• 1998

Characteristic changes in chlorophyll fluorescence from thalli of red alga, Porphyra, under high salt stress and during subsequent recovery were investigated, and the differences in the sensitivity to the stress among four species of Porphyra with different intertidal distributions were compared. By the treatment of NaCl with $9\%$ or higher concentrations, photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm) decreased in a biphasic pattern: a rapid decrease was observed within 1­3 h and followed by a slow decline. The decrease of Fv/Fm was mainly due to the increase of Fo without significant increases of Fm. When the thalli treated with $15\%$ NaCl for 6 h were returned to natural sea water for recovery, the increase of Fv/Fm also showed a biphasic pattern: a rapid increase of Fv/Fm was observed within 2 h and followed by a slow increase. Differences in the sensitivity to salt stress among the four species could be found during recovery after the treatment of severe salt stress. After the treatment of $20\%$ NaCl for 6 h, Fv/Fm decreased below 0.3 in all of the four Porphyra species, and the species living in upper parts of the intertidal zone (P. suborbiculata and P. pseudolinearis) could recover better compared with the species in lower parts of the intertidal zone (P. seriata and P. yezoensis), during recovery for 24 h. The species collected from the coast of the South Sea seemed to be more tolerant than those in the East Sea.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.342-342
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• 2017

Rice seeds are a home to endophytic bacterial communities which serve as a source of the plant's endophytes. As rice undergo physiological and adaptive modifications through cross breeding in the process of attaining salinity tolerance, this may also lead to changes in the endophytic bacterial community especially those residing in the seeds. This study explores the community structure of seed bacterial endophytes as influenced by rice parental lineage, genotype and physiological adaptation to salinity stress. Endophytic bacterial diversity was studied through culture dependent technique, cloning and Terminal-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis. Results revealed considerably diverse communities of bacterial endophytes in the interior of rice seeds. The richness of ribotypes ranges from 5-14 T-RFs corresponding to major groups of bacterial endophytes in the seeds. Endophytic bacterial diversity of the salt-sensitive IR29 is significantly more diverse compared to those of salt-tolerant cultivars. Proteobacteria followed by Actinobacteria and Firmicutes dominated the overall endophytic bacterial communities of the indica rice seeds based on 16S rDNA analysis of clones and isolates. Community profiles show common ribotypes found in all cultivars of the indica subspecies representing potential core microbiota belonging to Curtobacterium, Flavobacterium, Enterobacter, Xanthomonas, Herbaspirillum, Microbacterium and Stenotrophomonas. Multivariate analysis showed that the bacterial endophytic community and diversity of rice seeds are mainly influenced by their host's genotype, physiological adaptation to salt stress and parental lineage.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.306-306
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• 2017

Screening for drought and salinity tolerance was undertaken for selected Philippine upland rice landraces during germinative and seedling stages to identify varieties which can potentially be grown in marginally dry and saline soils. While increasing PEG and NaCl concentrations caused obvious signs of injury to all rice genotypes, considerable varietal differences were noted in the nature of responses providing evidence that these genotypes possess broad intraspecific genetic variations for drought and salt tolerance. Inconsistent responses of these varieties during both growth stages highlight complexities involved in stress responses and underscore the futility of utilizing a single stage in the rice plant's life cycle for physiological screening. Notwithstanding these perplexing responses, G_Katiil and Ml-Pilit Tapul were observed to thrive relatively well despite increased salt and drought stress during early growth stages and may therefore possess genes needed in crop improvement efforts for drought and salinity tolerance. While these results do not reflect the entire spectrum of adaptive expression to drought and salinity stress during the life cycle of the upland rice plant, they nonetheless provide an easy, reliable and reproducible method for preliminary identification of drought and salt tolerant rice varieties.