Caracterização fenotípica da tolerância de Portulaca oleracea L. e Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Steud. à salinidade

Abstract

Halophytes are plants that can tolerate soils with high salt concentrations and represent about 1% of the terrestrial flora, being distributed mainly in arid and semiarid regions. Glycophytes, in turn, are not able to survive in saline environments and, if they survive, are significantly affected. Salinity is often associated with a problem for agriculture, promoting actions aimed at prevention and remediation. However, salinity should not only be seen as an evil to be avoided, because, under the logic of using marginal areas, this “problem” is an opportunity for food production, fiber, bioenergy, etc. For this to occur, studies are needed to increase understanding of the mechanisms involved in salt stress tolerance in naturally tolerant plants, as the ability of halophyte plants to tolerate highly saline environments is determined by the coordinated action of physiological, metabolic and molecular processes. Thus, the present study aimed to broaden the knowledge base and understanding of the probable mechanisms involved in salt stress tolerance in purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) and gliricidia (Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Steud.) Plants; known as salinity tolerant. For this, the morphophysiological responses, the metabolic and transcriptomic profile were evaluated by subjecting the plants to saline stress, using a robust salinization protocol. After the imposition of different saline levels under strictly controlled conditions, the results confirmed that both species have tolerance to salinity, constituting important non-model organisms for study aiming to better understand the tolerance to salinity. Finally, in this study, a high-quality database containing the phenomena, metabolomics and transcriptomics data of both species was generated. Such information will be essential for future studies of gene prospecting and / or alleles related to salinity tolerance, as well as responses not previously explored with omic approaches of both species.