H₂ regulates ion homeostasis and phenotypes of <i>sos1</i> knockout plants.

<p>(A) Changes of Na/K ratio in Arabidopsis seedlings. (B) Relative gene expression of <i>salt overly sensitive1</i> (<i>SOS1</i>; At2g01980), <i>Arabidopsis H⁺-ATPase3</i> (<i>AHA3</i>; At5g57350) in Arabidopsis seedling roots. (C) Up panel, plasma membrane (PM) H⁺-ATPase protein level in Arabidopsis seedling roots. Bottom panel, Coomassie Brilliant Blue-stained gels that showing equal amounts of proteins were loaded. The number above the band indicates the relative abundance of the corresponding H⁺-ATPase_protein compared with that of the control sample. (D-F) Changes of fresh weight, chlorophyll content, and primary root growth of <i>sos1</i> mutant seedlings. Corresponding samples without chemicals were regarded as a control (Con, 100%). 5-day-old wild-type and <i>sos1</i> mutant seedlings were pretreated with or without 50% H₂-saturated aqueous solution for 24 hr, followed by the exposure to the liquid MS medium in the presence or absence of 150 mM NaCl for another 120 hr, and then phenotypic indicators were determined, respectively. The dashed lines denoted the inhibition rate of wild-type grown under NaCl, taking corresponding wild-type samples without chemicals as a 100%. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 16.0 software. Data are means ± SE from three independent experiments. The asterisk above the bar indicates significantly different in comparison with NaCl-treated alone sample at <i>P</i><0.05 according to <i>t</i> test (A). Additionally, bars denoted by the different letters were different significantly at <i>P</i><0.05 according to Duncan’s multiple range test (B, D–F).