Freshwater green algae started to colonize terrestrial habitats about 460 million years ago, giving rise to the evolution of land plants. Today, several streptophyte green algae occur in aero-terrestrial habitats with unpredictable fluctuations in water availability, serving as ideal models for investigating desiccation tolerance. We tested the hypothesis that callose, a β-d-1,3-glucan, is inco...

Few organisms are able to withstand desiccation stress; however, desiccation tolerance is widespread among plant seeds. Survival without water relies on an array of mechanisms, including the accumulation of stress proteins such as the late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins. These hydrophilic proteins are prominent in plant seeds but also found in desiccation-tolerant organisms. In spite of ...

rapid germination is an important factor determining the final yield. the most important abiotic stress threatening lentils is drought and temperature. therefore, this study was performed with the aim of investigating effects various thermal treatments (5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30°c) and four levels of drought (0, -4, -8, -12 and -16 bar) on percentage and germination rate of lentil genotypes. a s...

Antioxidant activity of symbiotic organisms known as lichens is an intriguing field of research because of its strong contribution to their ability to withstand extremes of physical and biological stress (e.g. desiccation, temperature, UV radiation and microbial infection). We present a comparative study on the antioxidant activities of 76 Icelandic and 41 Hawaiian lichen samples assessed emplo...

A possible link between melanization and desiccation resistance can be inferred if within population differences in melanization find significant correlations with desiccation resistance and its mechanistic basis i.e. rate of water loss/hr. Accordingly, darker, intermediate and lighter phenotypes of body melanization were analyzed in wild and laboratory reared Drosophila melanogaster L. (Dipter...

disadvantages such as indeterminate inflorescence and high seed shattering during ripening are significant restrictions to introduce evening primrose as a commercial medicinal plant. following to the last works, a pot experiment was conducted to clarify the influence of defoliation before harvest on the seed yield, oil and gla (gamma-linolenic acid) percentage of evening primrose growing under ...

Haberlea rhodopensis is a resurrection species with extreme resistance to drought stress and desiccation but also with ability to withstand low temperatures and freezing stress. In order to identify biochemical strategies which contribute to Haberlea's remarkable stress tolerance, the metabolic reconfiguration of H. rhodopensis during low temperature (4°C) and subsequent return to optimal tempe...