Figure 4

Germination and growth responses of transgenic plants to salt stress. A and B: Seeds of wild-type, lcr, 35S:MIR394a and 35S:m5LCR plants were germinated on the plates containing the different concentrations of NaCl. Germination rates (A) were measured after 4 d and cotyledon greening (B) were measured after 7 d. (C/D/E): Root growth of transgenic plants on MS medium with 100 and 150 mM NaCl. Seeds were germinated for 10 of (C), 10 (D) and 7 (E) d, respectively, on the MS medium with or without NaCl. F/G/H: Root length of the indicated genotypes grown on medium with different concentrations of NaCl was measured at 10 d (F/G), and 7 d (H), respectively. Relative root growth compared with that on NaCl-free medium is indicated. For 35S:MIR394b plants, similar results were found (data not shown). Vertical bars represent standard deviation of the mean (n =3, treatments with 60 seedlings). Asterisks indicate the significant difference between the transgenic lines/mutants and wild-type (WT) (P<0.05).