A molecular biology – genomics, metabolomics, proteomics and/or transcriptomics – approach to and/or basis for (plant) desiccation sensitivity and/or tolerance Tobias M. Ntuli Plant Germplasm Conservation Research, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X54001, Durban 4001, South Africa Abstract Desiccation tolerance is a rare but universal phenomenon! It happens in ‘orthodox seeds’ and/or ‘resurrection plants’ in plants! A plethora and/or suite of mechanisms and/or processes confer desiccation tolerance! They occur at biochemical and/or biophysical and/or genomic, metabolomic, proteomic and/or transcriptomic levels! Here a(n) overview and/or review of the latter is presented! Keywords: desiccation (tolerance and/or sensitivity), genomics, metabolomics, proteomics, transcriptomics. Introduction The phenomenon of desiccation tolerance is found throughout the animal, fungal, microbial and plant kingdoms (Alpert, 2006; Farrant, 2007). It is mainly seeds and non-tracheophytes such as mosses that commonly display tolerance to desiccation (Oliver, 2000). Desiccation tolerance is the ability to survive absolute water contents of 0.1 g H2O g_1. In contrast, drought tolerance involves surviving moderate water loss such as 90% relative water content (RWC) (Farrant, 2007; Ntuli, 2012). Most seeds are termed ‘orthodox’ because they can survive dehydration to an air-dry state whereas a minority is called ‘recalcitrant’ because they show a marked sensitivity to such severe dehydration (Berjak and Pammenter, 2008). Many mosses, lichens and ferns can survive dehydration of their vegetative organs such as leaves whereas this is uncommon in tracheophytes (Oliver, 2000; Kranner, I. et al., 2005; Proctor, M.C.F. et al. , 2007). Although there are no gymnosperms that show vegetative desiccation tolerance, there are several angiosperm families that contain desiccation-tolerant members (Oliver, 2000). These individual species are collectively referred to as ‘resurrection plants’ (Gaff, 1971). Resurrection plants shrivel up and fold their leaves until water is available upon dehydration whereupon these plants revive in a remarkable manner. Genomics Metabolomics Proteomics Transcriptomics Conclusion References Alpert, P. (2006). Constraints of tolerance: why are desiccation-tolerant organisms so small or rare? J. Exp. Biol. 209, 1575–1584 Farrant, J.M. (2007). Mechanisms of desiccation tolerance in angiosperm resurrection plants. In: Plant Desiccation Tolerance (Jenks, A. and Wood, A.J., eds), pp. 51–90, CAB International Press Gaff, D.F. (1971). Desiccation tolerant flowering plants in Southern Africa. Science 174, 1033–1034 Kranner, I. et al. (2005). Antioxidants and photoprotection in a lichen as compared with its isolated symbiotic partners. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 8, 3141–3146 Proctor, M.C.F. et al. (2007). Desiccation-tolerance in bryophytes: a review. Bryologist 110, 595–621
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 16:14:36 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015