“…The growth-enhancing effects of compatible solutes for osmotically stressed bacterial cells probably stem from a combination of their beneficial influence on cellular hydration and turgor, on the ionic strength and solvent properties of the cytoplasm, on the preservation of the solubility of proteins and their functionality, and on the maintenance of the integrity of cell components and biosynthetic processes (Cayley et al, 1992;Bourot et al, 2000;Bremer and Krämer, 2000;Diamant et al, 2001;Ignatova and Gierasch, 2006;Street et al, 2010;Auton et al, 2011;Wood, 2011). The physico-chemical attributes of individual compatible solutes (Street et al, 2006;Auton et al, 2011;Diehl et al, 2013;Jackson-Atogi et al, 2013) are, however, also an important determinant for the efficiency and type by which they exert their protective function. For instance, the oxidation of ectoine to 5-hydroxyectoine (Bursy et al, 2007) results in a far better desiccation protection for molecules than that afforded by its precursor ectoine (Tanne et al, 2014), which itself is an excellent stress protectant against various types of challenges (Lippert and Galinski, 1992;Widderich et al, 2014).…”