Nuclear migration: a marker for plant salinity resistance in vitro

To understand the mechanisms underlying acquisition of resistance to salinity, we recently produced calli of Medicago truncatula resistant to NaCl-induced salt stress following application of a step-up recurrent selection method. The effects of salinity on cell size are known but those on cell morphometry were never studied before, and this work fills that gap. Suspension cultured cells of M. truncatula R108 and Nicotiana tabacum BY-2 resistant to increasing NaCl concentrations up to 150 mM NaCl were used. The cell and nuclear surface area and position of nuclei within cells were measured. The surface area of salinity resistant cells of Medicago truncatula R108 and Nicotiana tabacum BY2 and…