Selection for NaCl Tolerance in Cell Culture of Three Canary Island Tomato Land Races. II. Inorganic Ion Content in Tolerant Calli and Somaclones

Abstract

The concentration of inorganic ions (Na , K +, Ca , Mg , Cl , and NO ) in seedlings, morphogenetic calli and somaclones from three Canary Island (Spain) tomato land races was analyzed. MS medium supplemented with 1.2, 2.4, 3.6, and 5.8 g/1 NaCl were used. Raising the NaCl concentration of the media increased the endogenous concentration of Na and Cl in all plant material analyzed. Na and Cl concentration were higher in morphogenetic calli than in seedlings and higher in somaclones than in the morphogenetic calli from which they were derived. The decrease in NO ) and K did not correlate with the increase in Na and CI . Calcium and Mg contents did not vary significantly with NaCl increase. The tolerance of the selected phenotypes seems to be related to a mechanism that controls the internal osmotic potential by increasing CI and Na concentrations while preventing the cells from their toxic effect.