Soil Remediation Via Salt-Conduction And The Hypotheses Of Halosynthesis And Photoprotection

The present paper proposes that all terrestrial higher plants may be divided into three general categories based on their salt management: 1) Excluders, 2) Accumulators and 3) Conductors. Excluders exclude salt at the root level and are typically glycophytes, but there are a few euhalophytes as notable exceptions. Many miohalophytes and euhalophytes are salt accumulators, while virtually all crinohalophytes are salt conductors. Salt conductor plants move salt from the soil through the roots and plant tissues to salt glands on the plant surfaces.

We describe the hypothetical mechanisms and pathways of moving salt through the plant and predict that some plants with the ability to do this may acquire energetic benefits through a process described herein. This process we call Halosynthesis. Halosynthesis is any salt-mediated mechanism, by which exogenous energy is stored/utilized by organisms under appropriate conditions.

We predict in the present case, that the appropriate conditions for halosynthesis may be met in salt glands and possibly other structures. Halosynthesis utilizes environmental energy, in the face of otherwise stressful conditions, to optimize growth and other metabolic functions. The process of halosynthesis may have great potential to benefit conductor plants due to evapotranspirational energy and/or through the accumulation of a salt-mediated and/or salt-dependent, photon-electron, surface charge.

The first and best-known mechanism of energy extraction process is photosynthesis while the second discovered environmental energy source is that of thiobacteria which can extract heat energy from undersea hot-water vents to fix and reduce carbon. Conductor halophyte plants have been less well studied in this respect and this paper specifically examines the potential of the genus Distichlis as a good example of the quintessential halosynthesizing conductor plant. If our hypothesis of halosynthesis is proven correct it could represent the second known mechanism by which life can access energy from sunlight and the third mechanism by which organisms may extract energy from the environment.