PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Saniye Elvan Öztürk AU - Mehmet Göktay AU - Canan Has AU - Mehmet Babaoğlu AU - Jens Allmer AU - Sami Doğanlar AU - Anne Frary TI - Boron Hyperaccumulation Mechanisms in <em>Puccinellia distans</em> as Revealed by Transcriptomic Analysis AID - 10.1101/110403 DP - 2017 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 110403 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/02/21/110403.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/02/21/110403.full AB - Boron is an essential plant micronutrient; but is toxic at high concentrations. Boron toxicity can severely affect crop productivity in arid and semi-arid environments. Puccinellia distans (Jacq.) Par1., common alkali grass, is found throughout the world and can survive under boron concentrations that are lethal for other plant species. In addition, P. distans can accumulate very high levels of this element. Despite these interesting features, very little research has been performed to elucidate the boron tolerance mechanism in this species. In this study, P. distans samples were analyzed by RNA sequencing to identify genes related to boron tolerance and hyperaccumulation. Abundance levels of selected differentially expressed transcripts were validated by real-time PCR. The results indicated that the hyperaccumulation mechanism of P. distans involves many transcriptomic changes including those that lead to: alterations in the malate pathway, changes in cell wall components that allow sequestration of excess boron without toxic effects, and increased expression of at least one putative boron transporter and two putative aquaporins. Elucidation of the boron accumulation mechanism is important to develop approaches for bioremediation of boron contaminated soils.