Assessment of the expression pattern of a gene encoding plasma membrane pump under salt stress in the shoots of resistant and sensitive wheat cultivars and its wild relative, Aegilops crassa

Plasma membrane proton pump (H+-ATPase) has important roles in various physiological processes. Hence, the expression pattern of the gene which encodes a plasma membrane proton pump was surveyed in the shoots of resistant and sensitive wheat cultivars and its wild relative, Aegilops crassa under salinity stress. Salinity stress induced by adding 150 mM NaCl to the basic solution and sampling was performed in three intervals: 0, 12 h and 3 weeks after applying salinity treatment. A quantitative PCR technique was used to study the relative expression of the gene of interest and a gene encoding actin was used as the reference gene to normalize the samples. The results showed that the expression level of the gene encoding plasma membrane proton pump significantly increased in response to salt stress after 3 weeks in comparison to 12 h after applying salinity treatment. It also revealed that the expression level of the gene was significantly higher in the resistant cultivar, Arg, than sensitive cultivar and Aegilops crassa. It revealed that the expression level of the gene was not significantly different in sensitive cultivar under salinity treatment in different times after salinity treatment. The bioinformatics analysis of promoter region of the gene encoding plasma membrane proton pump showed that various motifs within this region involved in response to abiotic stress and light. Overall, bioinformatics and laboratory studies revealed that gene encoding a plasma membrane proton pump plays a role in induction of salinity tolerance.