Modulation in growth, biochemical attributes and proteome profile of rice cultivars under salt stress

One of the major abiotic stresses that affect productivity of rice is salinity. Rice cultivars showed significant genetic variation in response to salt stress. In the present investigation, differential growth pattern and physio-chemical traits-based screening of high yielding rice cultivars of various salt affected areas of India was carried out, and salt-sensitive and salt-tolerant cultivars were identified. Differential responses of antioxidant enzyme activity and tolerance index at maximum level of salt treatment depicted that Jhelum and Vytilla-4 cultivars of rice were sensitive and tolerant to salt stress, respectively. Analysis of growth, morpho-physiological, and biochemical parameters also confirmed the salt-tolerant and salt-sensitive characters of cv. Vytilla-4 and cv. Jhelum, respectively. Nano-LCMS/MS-based proteome profile of these two cultivars was carried out to find out the mechanism lying behind the salt tolerance. A total number of 514 and 770 protein spots were reported in the most salt-tolerant (cv. Vytilla-4) and salt-sensitive (cv. Jhelum) cultivars, respectively. The differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were found associated with major metabolic pathways including photosynthesis, energy metabolism, amino acid metabolism, nitrogen assimilation and stress and signalling pathways. The changes in the major proteins like Ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase small chain, chlorophyll a-b binding protein, phosphoglycerate kinase, cytochrome c oxidase subunit 5C, glutamine synthetase, glutathione S-transferase, peroxidase, and thioredoxin elucidated the mechanism activated by salt-tolerant cv. Vytilla-4. The transcriptional validation of some of the differentially expressed proteins through real-time quantitative PCR analysis further validated the proteomic results. Outcomes of this work could help in finding out the potential cross-links of different pathways involved in salt-tolerance mechanisms operating in the studied here rice cultivars under salt stress.