Na+-K+ transport in roots under salt stress

Salinity causes billion dollar losses in annual crop production. So far, the main avenue in breeding crops for salt tolerance has been to reduce Na+ uptake and transport from roots to shoots. Recently we have demonstrated that retention of cytosolic K+ could be considered as another key factor in conferring salt tolerance in plants. A subsequent study has shown that Na+-induced K+ efflux in barley root epidermis occurs primarily via outward rectifying K+ channels (KORC). Surprisingly, expression of KORC was similar in salt-tolerant and sensitive genotypes. However, the former were able to better oppose Na+-induced depolarization via enhanced activity of plasma membrane H+-ATPase (thus minimizing K+ leak from the cytosol). In addition to highly K+-selective KORC channels, activities of several types of non-selective cation channels were detected at depolarizing potentials. Here we show that the expression of one of them, NORC, was significantly lower in salt-tolerant genotypes. As NORC is capable of mediating K+ efflux coupled to Na+ influx, we suggest that the restriction of its activity could be beneficial for plants under salt stress.