HONGYU MA1,2, RUIFANG YANG3, LIRU SONG1, YAN YANG1, QIUXIA WANG2, ZHANKUI WANG1, CAI REN1 AND HAO MA1

Abstract:  Jute (Corchorus capsularis & olitorius L.) is mostly grown in Southeast Asian countries and has been recently suggested as a promising candidate for planting in wetland and saline soils in China. To effectively breed more salt-tolerant jute cultivars, it is necessary to understand its salt stress-responsive mechanism at molecular level. Morphological, physiological and proteomic analyses were performed on seedlings of two jute genotypes exposed to 50, 100 and 150 mM NaCl, respectively, for four days. Our results indicated that genotype 9511, with lower degree of average index of salt harm (AISH) in leaf, less fallen leaf number/ten plants and higher root proline (Pro) content, was more salt tolerant than genotype Mengyuan. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) showed that expressions of 44 protein spots were significantly changed in the seedling roots of the two genotypes in response to salt stress. Thirty-nine (39) differentially expressed proteins were identified by MALDI-TOF-TOF MS, and classified into nine groups. Based on most of the 39 identified salt-responsive proteins, a salt stress-responsive protein network in jute seedling roots was proposed. After the persistent (for 4 d) salt stress, jute seedling would adapt to salt stress through altering signal transduction, accelerating ROS scavenging, impairing energy metabolism, enhancing nucleotide metabolism, lipid metabolism and cell wall metabolism, as well as altering cytoskeleton in roots. NaCl-responsive protein data will provide insights into salt stress responses and for further dissection of salt tolerance mechanisms in jute.

Key words: Jute, Root, 2-DE, Salt stress, Proteomic.

Corresponding author’s e-mail: Lq-ncsi@njau.edu.cn; Tel.: +86-25+84395324