Salt Stress Induces Differentiated Nitrogen Uptake and Antioxidant Responses in Two Contrasting Barley Landraces from MENA Region

Abstract

The interaction between salinity and nitrogen metabolism has been investigated in two barley landraces, one tolerant (“100/1B”) and one susceptible to salinity (“Barley medenine”) from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Barley plants were exposed to 50 mM NaCl for 7 days; then, salinity was increased to 150 mM NaCl in the presence (10 mM) or limitation (1 mM) of ammonium as a nitrogen source. Upon salinity, “100/1B” was shown to support N assimilation by enhancing the glutamine synthetase (GS) and glutamine oxoglutarate aminotransferase (GOGAT) cycle under high N, and the stimulation of the glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) pathway under low N treatment. In “Barley medenine”, salinity reduced the GS/GOGAT cycle, and increased GDH activity. Upon salinity, Heat Shock Proteins 70 and PEPC remained unchanged in “100/1B”, while they decreased in “Barley medenine”. The tolerance degree is a determining factor in enzymes’ occurrence and regulation: exposed to salinity, “100/1B” rapidly increased APX and PEPC activities, while this was delayed in “Barley medenine”. Salinity increased cyt-G6PDH levels in “100/1B”, while “Barley medenine” showed a decrease in G6PDH isoforms. Correlation analyses confirm GOGAT was related to G6PDH; GDH and APX with PEPC in “100/1B” under moderate salinity; severe salinity correlated GDH with G6PDH and PEPC. In “Barley medenine” under salinity, GOGAT was correlated with G6PDH, while APX showed a relation with PEPC. Therefore, specific enzymatic activities and occurrence can be used to determine stress responsiveness of different landraces. We suggest that the rapid increase in G6PDH, APX, and nitrogen assimilation enzymes activities represents an index of tolerance in “100/1B” and a stress symptom in “Barley medenine”.