Overexpression of tomato enhancer of SOS3-1 (LeENH1) in tobacco enhanced salinity tolerance by excluding Na+ from the cytosol

The salt overly sensitive pathway has an important function in plant salinity tolerance. The enhancer of SOS3-1 (ENH1) participates in a new salinity stress pathway with SOS2 but without SOS3. To investigate the physiological effects and functional mechanism of ENH1 under salt stress, ENH1 was isolated from tomato and overexpressed in tobacco. Under salt stress, the sprouting percentage, fresh weight, and dry weight of transgenic plants were higher than those of wild-type (WT) plants. Under salt stress, the chlorophyll content, net photosynthetic rate, and maximal photochemical efficiency of PSII in transgenic plants decreased more slowly than those in WT plants. The overexpression of LeENH1 in tobacco excluded Na+ from the cytosol and retained high K+ levels in the cytosol to reestablish ion homeostasis. Higher thylakoid-bound ascorbate peroxidase activity and lower reactive oxygen species levels were found in transgenic plants under salt stress.