XVI International Botanical Congess

Plant responses to salt stress have largely escaped mechanistic understanding. Progress is now being made using genomics approaches and by the analysis of model systems. Many biochemical defenses seem conserved among organisms - not unexpectedly because the effects of increased salinity affect all cells similarly, with radical oxygen scavenging probably the most important protective mechanisms. As more transcript sequences become available, monitoring gene expression at the genome level becomes possible. Microarrays reveal similar reactions to osmotic stress in non-plant models and plants, which are comparable to stress reactions of, e.g., kidney cells. Biochemical differences between plants notwithstanding, stress sensing and signal transduction appear to be crucial components of the stress response which can best be studied by a genomics-type approach (NSF, DOE, USDA).