At present, 20% of global arable land is affected by salinity, and is estimated to exceed 50% by year 2050. Salt stress causes osmotic stress, ion toxicity and oxidative stress in plants. Being sessile in nature, plants have adopted various mechanisms to cope with salt stress. These include, but not limited to, synthesis of compatible solutes, ion compartmentalization, and detoxification of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Some plants have naturally adopted to withstand salt stress. On the other hand, most of the important crops do not posses significant degree of salt stress tolerance. Therefore, it is need of hour to develop salt stress tolerant crops through transgenic approaches. In this regard, plants possessing natural salt stress tolerance are great resource. Genes conferring salt stress tolerance could be identified and isolated from these plants and transferred to target crops to confer salt tolerance. Eruca sativa (Taramira) is known salt tolerant plant and is grown in drought and salt affected areas of Pakistan. However, biochemical and genetical basis of salt tolerance mechanism remained unexplored. Current project is designed to evaluate extent of salt resistance in Pakistani cultivars of Eruca sativa and to carry out detailed biochemical characterization of salt tolerance in most tolerant cultivar(s). To gain insight into genetical mechanism of tolerance, expression of a set of key genes known to be involved in salt stress response/ resistance will be determined. Seeds of E. sativa cultivars grown in different areas of Pakistan, will be acquired and plants will be initially screened for extent of salt stress tolerance on the basis of morpho-physiological parameters. The salt tolerance mechanism of most tolerant cultivar(s) will be comprehensively studied through biochemical assays. Expression of key genes involved in osmoprotectants synthesis, stress-induced hormones, ion channels/ transporters, and stress induced transcription factors will be determined to gain insights into differential molecular responses.  The proposed research will be helpful in understanding biochemical and molecular strategies of salt tolerance adopted by E. sativa. The clear understanding of molecular strategies adopted by naturally salt tolerant plants could be helpful in developing salt stress tolerant crops in future.