Salt tolerance in Brassicaceae crops: physiological responses and molecular mechanisms

Abstract

Soil salinisation is a growing threat to global agriculture, reducing crop yields. Brassicaceae crops are vital vegetables and cash crops. Salt stress significantly affects the growth and development of Brassicaceae crops. A better understanding of the molecular and physiological mechanisms of salt tolerance is of theoretical and practical importance to improve Brassicaceae crop’s salt tolerance and crop quality. Combined with previous research results, we discuss recent advances in research on salt stress response and salt tolerance in Brassicaceae crops. We summarised recent research progress on the physiological and molecular mechanisms of ionic homeostasis, antioxidant regulation, hormonal regulation and accumulation of osmotic-adjustment substances. We also discussed the molecular mechanism of Brassicaceae crop salt tolerant varieties from the perspective of differentially expressed genes, differentially expressed proteins and metabolites through transcriptome, proteome and metabonomic analysis methods. This paper summarises the molecular mechanisms in the perspective of differentially expressed genes, differentially expressed proteins, and metabolites through transcriptomic, proteome and metabolomics analysis. The review provides abundant data for accelerating the breeding of salt-tolerant Brassicaceae and laid a foundation for understanding the mechanism of salt tolerance of Brassicaceae crops and breeding salt-tolerance varieties.