Mechanisms of plant desiccation tolerance

• Published in: Trends in Plant Science Vol. 6; no. 9; pp. 431 - 438
• Main Authors: Hoekstra, Folkert A, Golovina, Elena A, Buitink, Julia
• Format: Book Review Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01-09-2001; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adaptation, Physiological; Carbohydrate Metabolism; Cell Membrane - metabolism; Desiccation tolerance; EPS; glasses; Laboratorium voor Plantenfysiologie; Laboratory of Plant Physiology; Life Sciences; Macromolecular Substances; Osmotic Pressure; Oxidative Stress; partitioning; Plant Physiological Phenomena; Plant Proteins - physiology; preferential exclusion; Proline - metabolism; Protein Conformation; Vegetal Biology; Water; water replacement hypothesis; glasses; Plant Science; water replacement hypothesis; preferential exclusion; Cell biology; partitioning; Desiccation tolerance; oxidative stress
• ISSN: 1360-1385; 1878-4372
• DOI: 10.1016/S1360-1385(01)02052-0

Anhydrobiosis (‘life without water’) is the remarkable ability of certain organisms to survive almost total dehydration. It requires a coordinated series of events during dehydration that are associated with preventing oxidative damage and maintaining the native structure of macromolecules and membranes. The preferential hydration of macromolecules is essential when there is still bulk water present, but replacement by sugars becomes important upon further drying. Recent advances in our understanding of the mechanism of anhydrobiosis include the downregulation of metabolism, dehydration-induced partitioning of amphiphilic compounds into membranes and immobilization of the cytoplasm in a stable multicomponent glassy matrix.