Interactive Effects of Salinity and Certain Vitamins on Gene Expression and Cell Division

Three wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars (Sids 1, Sakha 69 and Gemmiza 5) were selected to study the interactive effects of salinity, vitamin B6 and ascorbic acid on protein synthesis. Sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) was used for the characterization of differential expression of proteins of these cultivars in response to salinity. Salinity induced a considerable variation in the protein patterns among these cultivars. These variations have been manifested in the novel expression of some polypeptides, the absence of the other and the over expression of a third class of polypeptides. Salinity also, resulted in progressive reduction in growth rates as indicated by values of roots and shoots length. On the other hand, the effect of salinity, vitamin B6 and ascorbic acid on the mitotic division and induction of chromosomal aberrations was studied using Allium cepa test. The higher concentrations of NaCl (200 and 180mM) have mitoclassic effect on cell division in which a complete inhibition in the mitotic activity was observed. Few types of mitotic abnormalities were induced in different treatments. Treatment the roots with vitamin B6 or ascorbic acid showed a considerable increase in the mitotic index and minimize the inhibition effect of NaCl.