Desiccation Tolerance in the Resurrection Plant Craterostigma plantagineum. A Contribution to the Study of Drought Tolerance at the Molecular Level

Low and high ψ ways from post-transcriptional RNA regulation to drought tolerance

“…The role of sugars, enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism as well as expression and regulation of proteins with cellular protective functions have been described in great detail in this system. 24,25 Plants on the other extreme may operate a different way. They do not tolerate desiccation but try to keep high water potential as long as possible for survival.…”

“…24 According to the genetic regulation described above, posttranscriptional signals set off biochemical changes leading to osmotic protection in this species. The role of sugars, enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism as well as expression and regulation of proteins with cellular protective functions have been described in great detail in this system.…”

Orthodox Seeds and Resurrection Plants: Two of a Kind?

“…Mature seeds of M. truncatula abi3 mutants are desiccation sensitive (Delahaie et al, 2013). Structural homologs of ABI3 have been identified in angiosperm resurrection species (Bartels and Salamini, 2001;Costa et al, 2017). A structural homolog of ABI3 isolated from C. plantagineum and its product were able to transactivate LEA genes in transient expression assays, even though its expression was not detected in mature leaves of C. plantagineum (Bartels and Salamini, 2001).…”

“…Structural homologs of ABI3 have been identified in angiosperm resurrection species (Bartels and Salamini, 2001;Costa et al, 2017). A structural homolog of ABI3 isolated from C. plantagineum and its product were able to transactivate LEA genes in transient expression assays, even though its expression was not detected in mature leaves of C. plantagineum (Bartels and Salamini, 2001). Although the expression of the two structural homologs of ABI3 identified in X. viscosa do not change in response to leaf desiccation, structural homologs of members of the ABI3 regulon in Arabidopsis are tightly coexpressed (Costa et al, 2017).…”

Protein expression upon desiccation and imbibition of Magnolia ovata A. St.-Hil seeds

“…Desiccation tolerance is a complex multigenic trait (Leprince et al, 1993;Vertucci and Farrant, 1995). It is the result of a complex cascade of molecular events, which can be divided into signal perception, signal transduction, gene activation and biochemical changes leading to the acquisition of desiccation tolerance (Bartels and Salamini, 2001;Ramanjalu and Bartels, 2002). Desiccation tolerance is characterized by the physical and chemical adjustments in order for the cells to withstand the dehydration and resume the biological activity after rehydration.…”