The bioenergetics of salt tolerance
The aims of this project was to try to understand the adaptive mechanisms that organisms develop in order to respond to a sudden transformation in their environment to a salt shock.'' To study this problem we used a fresh water oxygenic photosynthetic cyanobacterium known as Synecoccus 6311. This organism suffers injury after this sudden exposure to high concentrations of sodium chloride equivalent to or even higher than that in sea water. Yet they are able to re-establish their photosynthetic activity which is partially injured and return to virtually normal growth rates. Identification of the temporal sequence of changes involved in adaptation to this stress was the rationale. Indeed this project employed a wide variety of biochemical and biophysical methods, including electron spin resonance techniques and nuclear magnetic resonance to study the bioenergetics and transport mechanisms, growth and energy changes in these organisms and how the structural components of the cells changed in response to adaptation to growth at high salinity. The problem has relevance for higher plants because most of the arable farmland in the world is already under use and that which is not used is usually in salite environments. Hence, understanding basic mechanisms of salt tolerance is a fundamental biological problem with great applications for bioproductivity and agriculture.
- Research Organization:
- California Univ., Berkeley, CA (USA). Dept. of Molecular and Cell Biology
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE/ER
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG03-87ER13736
- OSTI ID:
- 6153092
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ER/13736-T1; ON: DE91008231
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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The bioenergetics of salt tolerance: Final report (1)
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Related Subjects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
CYANOBACTERIA
BIOLOGICAL ADAPTATION
SALINITY
BIOLOGICAL STRESS
SODIUM CHLORIDES
TOLERANCE
ATP
BIOLOGICAL RECOVERY
BIOLOGICAL SHOCK
CARBON 13
DNA
GLYCOGEN
GROWTH
MEMBRANE TRANSPORT
NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE
OXYGEN
PERMEABILITY
PHOSPHORUS 31
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
PROGRESS REPORT
RESPIRATION
SALTS
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
CARBOHYDRATES
CARBON ISOTOPES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHLORIDES
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
DOCUMENT TYPES
ELEMENTS
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MAGNETIC RESONANCE
MICROORGANISMS
NONMETALS
NUCLEI
NUCLEIC ACIDS
NUCLEOTIDES
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PATHOLOGICAL CHANGES
PHOSPHORUS ISOTOPES
PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTIONS
POLYSACCHARIDES
RECOVERY
RESONANCE
SACCHARIDES
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
STABLE ISOTOPES
SYNTHESIS
550200* - Biochemistry
550700 - Microbiology
540310 - Environment
Aquatic- Basic Studies- (1990-)