Comprehensive gene expression analysis of salt responses in a halophyte Mesembryanthemum crystallinum, ice plant, by RNAseq methods.. Mesembryanthemum crystallinum

Understanding salt tolerance mechanisms in plants is a crucial issue for increasing crop yield. The ice plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum) is a halophyte and ice plant that can grow even in high salt conditions. In fact, root growth of young ice plant seedlings showed resistance to 140 mM NaCl, which completely inhibited Arabidopsis root growth. Characterizing the molecular mechanisms of tolerance to this extreme environment in a wild species has the potential advantage of revealing tolerance mechanisms that have been evolutionarily successful. In this study, we use RNAseq technique to examine gene expression in ice plant roots treated with various concentrations (0 mM, 140 mM, 250 mM, and 500 mM) of NaCl.