By: Reem M. Abd El-Maksoud*¹, Mohamed Abdelsattar², Nouf F. Alsayied³, Hanan M. Mansour*⁴

1. Department of Nucleic acid and Protein Structure, Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI), Agricultural Research Center (ARC), Giza, 12619, Egypt.
2. Department of Plant Molecular Biology, Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI), Agricultural Research Center (ARC), Giza, 12619, Egypt.
3. Department of Biology, Faculty of Applied Science, Umm Al-Qura University, Makka, Saudi Arabia
4. Department of Natural Product Research Department, National Center for Radiation Research and Technology, Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority (EAEA), Cairo, Egypt.

Abstract

Using a low dose of gamma rays (30 Gy), the response of twelve salt tolerance-related genes (SlTAS14, SlNCED1, SlDREB2, SlAREB, SlGR, SlAPX1, SlDELLA, SlJAZ1, SlCU/ZnSOD (SlCSD2), SlFSD, SlTIR1 and SlNHX1) was examined at two concentrations of salt stress (50 and 200 mMNaCl). Real-time reverse transcription-PCR analyses of the examined genes showed different expression profiles in shoot and root tissues. In the case of irrigation by 50 mM NaCl, seven genes (SlAPX1, SlGR, SlTAS14, SlNCED1, SlDELLA, SlJAZ1, and SlCSD2) showed a significant increase in their expression in shoot tissues of the irradiated plants. On the other hand, two genes (SlNCED1 and SlDREB2) showed a significant increase in the root tissues at the same concentration. The potential effect of a low dose of gamma rays on enhancing the salinity response of tomato plants can be observed at 200 mM NaCl, where all genes showed a significant increase in shoot tissues of irradiated plants. Interestingly, nine genes (SlNCED1, SlDREB2, SlAREB, SlAPX1, SlDELLA, SlJAZ1, SlCSD2, SlFSD, and SlTIR1) showed a significant increase in the roots of the irradiated plants compared to non-irradiated plants.

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