Comparative expression profiling of four salt-inducible genes from Aeluropus littoralis

Abiotic stresses such as salinity influence agricultural production. Plants generally respond to stimulus conditions in a complex manner involving many genes and proteins. In the evolution process, halophyte plant Aeluropus littoralis has been proven to have abiotic stress-tolerance capacity. A. littoralis is a salt-resistant halophyte providing a wealthy genetic resource for developing salinity tolerance in crop plants. In the present study, the expression of four candidate ESTs including PKL, 5PTase, NUC-L2 and GLYI genes were analyzed in root and shoot tissues by quantitative Real-Time PCR in multiple time points under 600 mM NaCl stress and recovery conditions . Al5PTase gene showed the highest significant up-regulation in shoot and root tissues. However, a significant down-regulation was found for AlGLY gene in root tissues. Furthermore, we found the unique up-regulations for AlPKL and AlNUC-L2 genes expression magnitudes in root tissues under recovery conditions. These results may provide useful information for further understanding of the role of A. littoralis genes and their regulatory pathways, revealing important genetic resources for crop improvement.