Insights into the cellular mechanisms of desiccation tolerance among angiosperm resurrection plant species

Abstract

Water is a major limiting factor in growth and reproduction in plants. The ability of tissues to survive desiccation is commonly found in seeds or pollen but rarely present in vegetative tissues. Resurrection plants are remarkable as they can tolerate almost complete water loss from their vegetative tissues such as leaves and roots. Metabolism is shut down as they dehydrate and the plants become apparently lifeless. Upon rehydration these plants recover full metabolic competence and 'resurrect'. In order to cope with desiccation, resurrection plants have to overcome a number of stresses as water is lost from the cells, among them oxidative stress, destabilization or loss of membrane integrity and mechanical stress. This review will mainly focus on the effect of dehydration in angiosperm resurrection plants and some of the strategies developed by these plants to tolerate desiccation. Resurrection plants are important experimental models and understanding the physiological and molecular aspects of their desiccation tolerance is of great interest for developing drought-tolerant crop species adapted to semi-arid areas.

Bleaching of an intertidal coralline alga: untangling the effects of light, temperature, and desiccation

“…Desiccation increases the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are known to cause significant intercellular damage (Vicré et al 2004, Kranner & Birtic 2005. In particular, ROS have been directly linked to pigment degradation in coralline algae; bleaching in the coralline Corallina officinalis was significantly reduced by the addition of antioxidants (Latham 2008).…”

Physiological, cellular and molecular aspects of the desiccation tolerance in Anadenanthera colubrina seeds during germination

“…In resurrection plants, for example, the cellular wall bending and the cells contraction allow the reversibility of withering and curling of the leaves (Moore et al, 2006;Moore et al, 2008). In orthodox seeds, the correct bending of the association between the plasmatic membrane and cellular wall at the end of the seed maturing process is essential to prevent mechanic damages to tissues (Vicré et al, 2004).…”

A role for pectin-associated arabinans in maintaining the flexibility of the plant cell wall during water deficit stress

“…1 Our research has focused on a group of Southern African plants termed 'Resurrection plants' because of their unique ability to survive severe dehydration (desiccation) to an almost air-dry state. 18 We have been interested in how the cell walls of angiosperm resurrection plants such as Craterostigma wilmsii 19,20 and Myrothamnus flabellifolia 21,22 may have become adapted to survive this extreme water deficit stress (desiccation). We have shown that in the case of the Myrothamnus flabellifolia leaf cell wall, which becomes considerably folded when dried, does not undergo dramatic changes in composition or polymer location in response to desiccation.…”