“…The original grouping of LEA proteins is based on common structural features, which were first identified in the prototypical cotton plant (G. hirsutum) (11), but subsequent alternative classifications have led to large inconsistencies with respect to the original taxonomy (23). LEA proteins have been variously assigned to three major groups associated with their taxonomic origins, i.e., plants, bacteria, and vertebrates (22), while other classifications yield five (23) or seven (21) major groups, with nine to 14 LEA subgroups (16,(24)(25)(26). The different classification structures have been based on the analysis of transcripts (27,28), amino acid sequences and conserved motifs (26,29,30), three-dimensional protein structures, or chemical characteristics, including in silico analyses of protein or oligonucleotide probability profiles (POPP) (16,22,23,25,26,(29)(30)(31)(32)(33).…”