Dry season — wet season volume change of Echinopsis atacamensis ssp. atacamensis (Cactaceae) as proxy for the amount of utilizable water of a stem succulent plant

Eggli, U.; Giorgetta, Mario

doi:10.25223/brad.n38.2020.a8

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 24 publications

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“…There has been a growing interest in the support tissues and their cell walls in certain succulent lineages due to their adaptive and evolutionary relevance or their useful applications, such as the different types of wood of Cactaceae ( Vázquez-Sánchez et al , 2017 ; Reyes-Rivera et al , 2018 ; Maceda et al , 2019 ) and the sclerenchyma fibres of Agave (Asparagaceae; Ferreira et al , 2014 ; Hidalgo-Reyes et al , 2015 ). Despite having support tissues, most large succulent plants are still capable of a high degree of volume change, which may be facilitated by morphological adaptations such as ribs in many Cactaceae and succulent Apocynaceae and Euphorbiaceae ( Gibson and Nobel, 1986 ; Nobel, 1988 ; Felger and Henrickson, 1997 ; Eggli and Giorgetta, 2020 ). Most succulents undergo successive cycles of dehydration and rehydration following external water availability, which is reflected in shrinking and swelling of their succulent organs as the water stores are emptied and refilled ( Gibson and Nobel, 1986 ; von Willert et al , 1992 ).…”

Section: Structure and Function Of Cell Walls In Succulentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elastic and collapsible: current understanding of cell walls in succulent plants

Fradera‐Soler

Grace

Jørgensen

et al. 2022

Journal of Experimental Botany

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Succulent plants represent a large functional group of drought-resistant plants which store water in specialized tissues. Several co-adaptive traits accompany water-storage capacity to constitute the succulent syndrome. A widely reported anatomical adaptation of cell walls in succulent tissues allows them to fold in a regular fashion during extended drought, thus preventing irreversible damage and allowing for reversible volume changes. Although ongoing research on crop and model species continuously reports the importance of cell walls and their dynamics in drought resistance, cell walls of succulent plants have received relatively little attention to date, despite the potential of succulents as natural capital to mitigate the effects of climate change. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of cell walls in drought-avoiding succulents and their effects on tissue biomechanics, water relations and photosynthesis. We also highlight the existing knowledge gaps and propose a hypothetical model for regulated cell wall folding in succulent tissues upon dehydration. Future perspectives of methodological development in succulent cell wall characterization, including the latest technological advances in molecular and imaging techniques, are also presented.

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