Gesneriads, a Source of Resurrection and Double-Tolerant Species: Proposal of New Desiccation- and Freezing-Tolerant Plants and Their Physiological Adaptations

Abstract

Gesneriaceae is a pantropical family of plants that, thanks to their lithophytic and epiphytic growth forms, have developed different strategies for overcoming water scarcity. Desiccation tolerance or “resurrection” ability is one of them: a rare phenomenon among angiosperms that involves surviving with very little relative water content in their tissues until water is again available. Physiological responses of desiccation tolerance are also activated during freezing temperatures, a stress that many of the resurrection gesneriads suffer due to their mountainous habitat. Therefore, research on desiccation- and freezing-tolerant gesneriads is a great opportunity for crop improvement, and some of them have become reference resurrection angiosperms (Dorcoceras hygrometrica, Haberlea rhodopensis and Ramonda myconi). However, their difficult indoor cultivation and outdoor accessibility are major obstacles for their study. Therefore, this review aims to identify phylogenetic, geoclimatic, habitat, and morphological features in order to propose new tentative resurrection gesneriads as a way of making them more reachable to the scientific community. Additionally, shared and species-specific physiological responses to desiccation and freezing stress have been gathered as a stress response metabolic basis of the family.

Cytotoxic, Antibacterial, and Antioxidant Activities of the Leaf Extract of Sinningia bullata

“…Sinningia bullata is a tuberous member of the flowering plant family Gesneriaceae [ 1 ]. Gesneriaceae comprises over 3400 species and have developed different strategies for overcoming water scarcity [ 1 ]. S. bullata is named for its bullate leaves and also produces a woolly backing to its leaves.…”

Morphological, physiological and biochemical response of Lallemantia species to elevated temperature and light duration during seed development

“…It seems that the reduction in lipid peroxidation under standard temperature and long day during seed maturation indicates the reduction in membrane damage, and provides the essential carbon for the maintenance of raffinose and polysaccharides in the offspring [ 66 ]. According to recent research, sucrose, and raffinose are involved in the maintenance of cytoplasm glassy state and reduce lipid peroxidation [ 30 , 67 ]. In the current study, more SOD, CAT, and APX enzyme activities in L. royleana than that in L. iberica leaves were probably due to the limitated oil content, and reduction in the accumulation of H 2 O 2 and lipid peroxidation [ 64 , 68 ].…”

Resurrection Plants—A Valuable Source of Natural Bioactive Compounds: From Word-of-Mouth to Scientifically Proven Sustainable Use

“…As could be expected, most of them live under desert or semi-desert conditions. However, there are also species that belong in humid tropical regions in Africa and South America or survive winters with freezing temperatures in Europe [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Their strategies to withstand desiccation are predetermined, constitutive (e.g., in-advance high-abundance of protective compounds, including metabolites), and/or inducible, leading to reprogramming at the transcriptome and metabolome levels upon stress establishment [4,[12][13][14][15][16][17].…”