Organ‐Specific Responses of Vacuolar H+‐ATPase in the Shoots and Roots of C3 Halophyte Suaeda salsa to NaCl

Abstract Suaeda salsa L. is a halophytic species that is well adapted to high salinity. In order to understand its salt tolerance mechanism, we examined the growth and vacuolar H + ‐ATPase (V‐ATPase) response to NaCl within the shoots and roots. The growth of shoots, but not roots, was dramatically stimulated by NaCl. Cl − and Na + were mainly accumulated in shoots. V‐ATPase activity was significantly increased by NaCl in roots and especially in shoots. Interestingly, antisera ATP95 and ATP88b detected three V 1 subunits (66, 55 and 36 KDa) of V‐ATPase only in shoots, while an 18 kDa V 0 subunit of V‐ATPase was detected by both antisera in shoots and roots. It suggested that the tissue‐specific characteristics of V‐ATPase were related to the different patterns of growth and ion accumulation in shoots and roots of S. salsa .