Membrane dynamics during individual and combined abiotic stresses in plants and tools to study the same

Abstract

The plasma membrane (PM) is possibly the most diverse biological membrane of plant cells; it separates and guards the cell against its external environment. It has an extremely complex structure comprising a mosaic of lipids and proteins. The PM lipids are responsible for maintaining fluidity, permeability and integrity of the membrane and also influence the functioning of membrane proteins. However, the PM is the primary target of environmental stress, which affects its composition, conformation and properties, thereby disturbing the cellular homeostasis. Maintenance of integrity and fluidity of the PM is a prerequisite for ensuring the survival of plants during adverse environmental conditions. The ability of plants to remodel membrane lipid and protein composition plays a crucial role in adaptation towards varying abiotic environmental cues, including high or low temperature, drought, salinity and heavy metals stress. The dynamic changes in lipid composition affect the functioning of membrane transporters and ultimately regulate the physical properties of the membrane. Plant membrane‐transport systems play a significant role in stress adaptation by cooperating with the membrane lipidome to maintain the membrane integrity under stressful conditions. The present review provides a holistic view of stress responses and adaptations in plants, especially the changes in the lipidome and proteome of PM under individual or combined abiotic stresses, which cause alterations in the activity of membrane transporters and modifies the fluidity of the PM. The tools to study the varying lipidome and proteome of the PM are also discussed.

The Role of Membrane Transporters in Plant Growth and Development, and Abiotic Stress Tolerance

“…Recent advances evidenced the role of MTs as they are the major shareholder in sugar transportation from leaf (source) to sink (root, stem and seed) via phloem loading and nutrient transportation from roots to upper plant parts through xylem loading [ 2 , 3 ]. Thus, the efficient utilization of MTs not only could help researchers to increase grain yield directly but also expand arable land by improving tolerance mechanisms against various abiotic stresses, i.e., salt, drought, cold, heat and heavy metals (HMs) [ 4 , 5 , 6 ].…”

Elucidating the Response of Crop Plants towards Individual, Combined and Sequentially Occurring Abiotic Stresses

“…Of these, some exclusively responded during individual and combined stress, while few showed similar function during individual and combined stress, such as protein kinases, phosphatases, LEA, dehydrins, osmotins, and HSPs [ 19 ]. Osmotic (drought and salinity) stress sensory proteins are mostly localized in the plasma membrane and demonstrate similar response individually but differ during combined stress [ 40 , 198 ]. Similar reports were observed during proteomics and western blot analysis in response to combined drought and heat stresses as glycolate oxidases, catalases and dehydrins were up-regulated during drought, while thioredoxin peroxidase is up-regulated during heat stress.…”

The Mechanism of Metal Homeostasis in Plants: A New View on the Synergistic Regulation Pathway of Membrane Proteins, Lipids and Metal Ions

“…Here, we will discuss the role of proteins in membrane remodeling. A large number of studies have shown that the contents of lipids, phospholipids, glucolipids, and sterols in the membrane are significantly changed under abiotic stresses such as HMS and high salinity [29,30]. This means that in response to abiotic stresses, plants reshape their membrane lipid composition and use this process to recruit many membrane proteins to resist HMS.…”