We used crosses between two closely related Drosophila species, Drosophila serrata and D. birchii, to examine the genetic basis of desiccation resistance and correlations between resistance, physiological traits, and life-history traits. D. serrata is more resistant to desiccation than D. birchii, and this may help to explain the broader geographical range of the former species. A comparison of...

Specimens of Biomphalaria tenagophila exposed to miracidia of Schistosoma mansoni were submitted to different desiccation periods as follows: group I: 24 h after exposure, desiccated for 28 days; group II: after cercariae elimination, desiccated for 7 days; group III: 21 days after exposure, desiccated for 7 days; group IV: 14 days after exposure, desiccated for 14 days; group V: 7 days after e...

Drying to equilibrium with the air kills nearly all animals and flowering plants, including livestock and crops. This makes drought a key ecological problem for terrestrial life and a major cause of human famine. However, the ability to tolerate complete desiccation is widespread in organisms that are either <5 mm long or found mainly where desiccation-sensitive organisms are scarce. This sugge...

Disc Degeneration: Spondylosis (Spondylosis Deformans) is a general term used for age-related changes to the disc. This includes disc dessication, bulging and marginal osteophyte. Disc degeneration (Intervertebral osteochondrosis) (Resnick) is characterized by disorganization and dessication of the nucleus pulposis and by disc space narrowing. With loss of disc space height there is annular bul...

Anhydrobiosis, or extreme desiccation tolerance, is one of the strategies that allows terrestrial Antarctic organisms to survive in a harsh environment. A new study in BMC Genomics analyses gene expression in an Antarctic nematode during desiccation, and sheds new light on this phenomenon.

Exposing organisms to a particular stressor may enhance tolerance to a subsequent stress, when protective mechanisms against the two stressors are shared. Such cross-tolerance is a common adaptive response in dynamic multivariate environments and often indicates potential co-evolution of stress traits. Many aquatic insects in inland saline waters from Mediterranean-climate regions are sequentia...

Desiccation of 8- to 13-day-old seedlings, achieved by withholding nutrient solution from the vermiculite root medium, caused a reduction in nitrate reductase activity of the leaf tissue. Activity declined when leaf water potentials decreased below -2 bars and was 25% of the control at a leaf water potential of -13 bars. Experiments were conducted to determine whether the decrease in nitrate re...

The origin of phytohormones has been a puzzling question for decades; however, with the availability of large transcriptomic and genomic datasets of the early branching streptophytic green alga Klebsormidium this question can be addressed from a fresh perspective. Klebsormidium has recently been examined extensively for physiological and structural reactions to desiccation or cold temperatures,...

During desiccation of the moss Tortula ruralis (Hedw.) (Gaertn, Meyer and Scherb) polyribosomes are conserved. On rehydration, protein synthesis is rapidly resumed. In the presence of protein synthesis initiation inhibitors ribosome run-off from the conserved polyribosomes takes place, confirming that these retain their activity as intact structures during desiccation.

Arthrobacter koreensis 5J12A is a desiccation-tolerant organism isolated from the Nerium oleander rhizosphere. Here, we report its genome sequence, which may shed light on its role in plant growth promotion. This is believed to be the first published genome of a desiccation-tolerant plant growth promoter from the genus Arthrobacter.