Identification and characterization of a NaCl-inducible vacuolar Na+/H+ antiporter in Beta vulgaris

We have cloned, by RT-PCR and the use of degenerate oligonucleotide primers, a Na+ /H+ antiporter from Beta vulgaris that is homologous to NHX1 of Arabidopsis thaliana and is a member of the family of recently cloned plant NHX -genes. This antiporter, BvNHX1 , partially complements the salt-sensitive phenotype of a Deltaena1-4Deltanhx1 yeast strain. Antibodies were raised against a central portion of the BvNHX1 open reading frame that was predicted from the cloned cDNA. This antiporter was found to be highly enriched in tonoplast membranes isolated from plant tissues. BvNHX1 transcript abundance increased after salt treatments, in both suspension-cell cultures and whole plants. BvNHX1 protein abundance in the tonoplast-enriched membranes was also elevated after salt treatments. The vacuolar Na+ /H+ antiporter activity increased up to 3-fold when the cell were exposed to 100 mM NaCl. The increase in protein abundance in response to the salt treatment, together with the salt-induced vacuolar Na+ /H+ antiporter activity in B. vulgaris suggests that BvNHX1 plays an important role in salinity tolerance.