Plant Survival And Tolerance Under High Salinity: Primary And Secondary Cell Wall-Sensing Mechanism

Soil salinity is a widespread abiotic stress constraint which poses a threat to agricultural production, as it severely inhibits plant growth and development. One of the most prompt responses that plants trigger towards adaptations to saline environments is differential regulation of growth and expression of key genes, which results in growth either away from adverse conditions or towards more favourable conditions. The dynamic changes occur in growth and development of the plant, a process in which plant cell walls play important roles. Therefore, it is likely that cell wall changes are required for differential growth responses to changing environmental conditions. Cell wall constantly sensing environmental conditions and communicating with other parts of the cell, which adjust and communicate in a feedback loop to affect conditions at the wall, by triggering a cascade of reactions leading to tolerance. Thus, cell wall plays an active role in response to exogenous stimuli and constitutes a step forward in demarcating the complex pathways regulating the response of plants to salt stress. Understanding how salinity stress factors influence primary and secondary cell wall growth and mechanisms that improve plants' ability to produce biomass can provide crucial information to cope with the need for increased crop production under the escalating pressures of a growing world population and global climate change. The present chapter focuses on identifying and understanding the functions of the cell wall-related genes, metabolites, and signalling molecules that initiate and carry out primary and secondary cell wall synthesis during salinity stress.