The modulation of leaf metabolism plays a role in salt tolerance of Cymodocea nodosa exposed to hypersaline stress in mesocosms

Applying proteomics, we tested the physiological responses of the euryhaline seagrass Cymodocea nodosa to deliberate manipulation of salinity in a mesocosm system. Plants were subjected to a chronic hypersaline condition (43 psu) to compare protein expression and plant photochemistry responses after 15 and 30 days of exposure with those of plants cultured under normal/ambient saline conditions (37 psu). Results showed a general decline in the expression level of leaf proteins in hypersaline stressed plants, with more intense reductions after long-lasting exposure. Specifically, the carbon-fixing enzyme RuBisCo displayed a lower accumulation level in stressed plants relative to controls. In contrast, the key enzymes involved in the regulation of glycolysis, cytosolic glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, enolase 2 and triose-phosphate isomerase, showed significantly higher accumulation levels. These responses suggested a shift in carbon metabolism in stressed plants. Hypersaline stress also induced a significant alteration of the photosynthetic physiology of C. nodosa by means of a down-regulation in structural proteins and enzymes of both PSII and PSI. However we found an over-expression of the cytochrome b559 alpha subunit of the PSII initial complex, which is a receptor for the PSII core proteins involved in biogenesis or repair processes and therefore potentially involved in the absence of effects at the photochemical level of stressed plants. As expected hypersalinity also affects vacuolar metabolism by increasing the leaf cell turgor pressure and enhancing the up-take of Na ⁺ by over-accumulating the tonoplast specific intrinsic protein pyrophosphate-energized inorganic pyrophosphatase (H(+)-PPase) coupled to the Na ⁺/H ⁺-antiporter. The modulation of carbon metabolism and the enhancement of vacuole capacity in Na ⁺ sequestration and osmolarity changes are discussed in relation to salt tolerance of C. nodosa.