Morphologic and transcriptomic response of two libyan wheat germplasms in the form of P5CS, and PEPCs genes under salt stress and some nutrient additions

Title : Morphologic and transcriptomic response of two libyan wheat germplasms in the form of P5CS, and PEPCs genes under salt stress and some nutrient additions

Abstract:

The study has been conducted to find the effects of salt stress and nutrient additions (Iron and potassium) on growth, yield, proline-5-carboxylate synthase (P5CS), and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPCs) Genes, and gene expression of two Libyan bread wheat varieties. A factorial design of a greenhouse experiment with three replications was applied to accomplish the study. The treatments were control (distilled water), 5000 ppm NaCl, 5000 ppm NaCl + 1500 mg/L potassium nitrate spray, and 5000 ppm NaCl + 1500 mg/L potassium nitrate + 50 µmol/L Fe-EDTA. These treatments are applied to evaluate and assess whether iron and potassium can alleviate the negative effects of salt stress on bread wheat varieties through some morphological and molecular traits. Results revealed that salt stress significantly reduced plant growth and productivity of both varieties by 29.0% to 52.8%. The addition of potassium improved the performance of the morpho-metric parameters of both genotypes under salt stress. The performance was more effective for the Iron + Potassium treatment, 26.6% to 88.3%, than for potassium, only 12.7% to 46.9%. At the molecular level, salinity induced the expression of PEPC and P5CS in Khrissi more than in Bohoot 210. The increase of PEPC and P5CS gene expression was significantly higher by adding nutrients. It exceeded twofold in Bohoot 210 and threefold in Khrissi compared to the control, and the Iron + Potassium treatment allowed the highest gene expressions.

Biography:

Dr. Omar Sulaiman Belhaj studied Water and Soil Science and got a master’s in environmental science and engineering from the Libyan Academy in 2009. He joined the research group of Prof. Elhadi Hadia at the University of Elmergib, Libya to study stress conditions on growth and yield on different crops such as beans and wheat. In 2015 he joined the research group of Prof. William Hargrove at the University of Texas at El Paso, U.S., to find solutions to water scarcity in the Middle Rio Grande Region, Southwest U.S. He received his PhD degree in 2022 at the same institution. After a year postdoctoral fellowship, he joined the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Resource Sciences at the University of Texas at El Paso, U.S., in 2023 as a faculty member instructing and coordinating the introductory laboratories. He has published many research articles in various science journals.