Most seeds are anhydrobiotes, relying on an array of protective and repair mechanisms, and seed mitochondria have previously been shown to harbor stress proteins probably involved in desiccation tolerance. Since temperature stress is a major issue for germinating seeds, the temperature response of pea (Pisum sativum) seed mitochondria was examined in comparison with that of mitochondria from et...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Active growth in post-embryonic sporophytes of desert mosses is restricted to the cooler, wetter months. However, most desert mosses have perennial gametophytes. It is hypothesized that these life history patterns are due, in part, to a reduced desiccation tolerance for sporophytes relative to gametophytes. METHODS Gametophytes with attached post-embryonic sporophytes of T...

Plastic responses to heat and desiccation stress in insects have been studied in many laboratory experiments on Drosophila. However, in these studies the possible interaction between the corresponding stress factors in natural environments has not been taken into consideration. We investigated changes in heat and desiccation resistance of adult Drosophila simulans after short-term exposures to ...

Overwintering insects may experience extreme cold and desiccation stress. Both freezing and desiccation require cells to tolerate osmotic challenge as solutes become concentrated in the hemolymph. Not surprisingly, physiological responses to low temperature and desiccation share common features and may confer cross-tolerance against these stresses. Freeze-tolerant larvae of the goldenrod gall f...

Low temperature and desiccation stress are thought to be mechanistically similar in insects, and several studies indicate that there is a degree of cross-tolerance between them, such that increased cold tolerance results in greater desiccation tolerance and vice versa . This assertion is tested at an evolutionary scale by examining basal cold tolerance, rapid cold-hardening (RCH) and chill coma...

Maize is a dynamic cereal of world’s agriculture community and is grown both in spring and autumn seasons in Pakistan. In case of spring sowing (February sowing) both pistillate and staminate flowers face high temperature stress and ultimately results in poor seed setting because of increased silk dryness and pollen desiccation. Maize accessions were identified on the basis of their performance...

Diverse organisms capable of surviving desiccation, termed anhydrobiotes, include species from bacteria, yeast, plants, and invertebrates. However, most organisms are sensitive to desiccation, likely due to an assortment of different stresses such as protein misfolding and aggregation, hyperosmotic stress, membrane fracturing, and changes in cell volume and shape leading to an overcrowded cytop...

Although desiccation tolerance of Microcoleus species is a well-known phenomenon, there is very little information about their limits of desiccation tolerance in terms of cellular water content, the survival rate of their cells, and the environmental factors inducing their resistance to drying. We have discovered that three Microcoleus strains, isolated from terrestrial habitats of the High Arc...

Intertidal macroalgae endure light, desiccation, and temperature variation associated with sub-merged and emerged conditions on a daily basis. Physiological stresses exist over the course of the entire tidal cycle, and physiological differences in response to these stresses likely contribute to spatial separation of species along the shore. For example, marine species that have a high stress to...