Review Article Molecular mechanisms of plant salinity tolerance: a review

Accompanied with increasing world's population, we need more food. In the other hands, most important crops and vegetables are susceptible to salinity. Unfortunately the salinization process in agricultural fields will decrease the suitable land for cultivation by 30% within the next 25 years, and up to 50% by the year 2050. Therefore, developments of salt tolerant crops can be the best and most practical way to produce enough food. In the course of evolution, plants have developed several protecting mechanisms (avoidance and tolerance) so as to adapt to salt stress. Understanding the cellular basis of salt stress tolerance mechanisms is necessary for breeding and genetic engineering of salt tolerance in crops. Tolerance mechanisms mainly are applicable to practical manipulations. Tolerance mechanisms in plant can be categorized as: a)-antioxidative defense, b)-ion homeostasis, c)-compatible solute and d)-transcription factors. In this review we tried to make a comprehensive review on these 4 tolerance mechanisms from the molecular aspects.