Abstract:To investigate the role of AtNHX5 in plant salt resistance,the plant expression vector pROKⅡAtNHX5 was constructed and introduced into Arabidopsis thaliana.RTPCR assay showed that:(1)AtNHX5 was overexpressed in the transgenic lines.(2)Several transgenic homozygous lines and wildtype plants were evaluated for salt stress tolerance,the results suggest that AtNHX5 transgenic plants were more tolerant to high NaCl concentrations during germination and seedling stages when compared with wildtype plants.Under saline conditions,both fresh and dry weights of the transgenics as well as Na+ and K+ contents were much higher than that of wildtype.To take transgenic plant a14 as an example,the shoot fresh weight,dry weight and K+ content were 1.27,1.54 and 1.16 fold,respectively compared with wild types under 200 mmol/L NaCl treatment,which were significantly higher than that in wild types.These results demonstrate that overexpression of AtNHX5 in Arabidopsis promoted the absorbing capacity of K+ and enhanced the salt tolerance of plants.