Dry preservation has been explored as an energy-efficient alternative to cryopreservation, but the high sensitivity of mammalian cells to desiccation stress has been one of the major hurdles in storing cells in the desiccated state. An important strategy to reduce desiccation sensitivity involves use of the disaccharide trehalose. Trehalose is known to improve desiccation tolerance in mammalian...

The consistent correlation between desiccation tolerance in orthodox seed tissue and an accumulation ot certain "late embryogenesis abundant"" (LEAI proteins suggests that these profeins reduce desiccation-induced cellular damage. The aim of the present work was to test this hypothesis. Exogenous abscisic acid {ABAi was used lo elevate the level of heat-soluble LE.A-like proteins in axes from i...

The removal of water through air drying damages membranes, proteins and nucleic acids and is lethal to the majority of organisms. Nevertheless, some vegetative cells of bacteria and cyanobacteria survive extreme desiccation. Understanding the mechanisms of their desiccation tolerance is an important issue in cell biology and holds promise for the metabolic engineering of desiccation-sensitive c...

The viability of recalcitrant seeds is lost following stress from either drying or freezing. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) resulting from uncontrolled metabolic activity are likely responsible for seed sensitivity to drying. Nitric oxide (NO) and the ascorbate-glutathione cycle can be used for the detoxification of ROS, but their roles in the seed response to desiccation remain poorly understoo...

Animals maximize fitness by modulating sleep and foraging strategies in response to changes in nutrient availability. Wild populations of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, display highly variable levels of starvation and desiccation resistance that differ in accordance with geographic location, nutrient availability, and evolutionary history. Further, flies potently modulate sleep in resp...

Prior to modern typing methods, cross-infection of P. aeruginosa between people with cystic fibrosis (CF) was felt to be rare. Recently a number of studies have demonstrated the presence of clonal strains of P. aeruginosa infecting people with CF. The aim of this study was to determine whether strains of P. aeruginosa demonstrated differences in resistance to desiccation and whether preincubati...

Our study attempted to elucidate the significance of floral and pollen traits highly nutritious tropical trees Moringa oleifera peregrina for their reproductive success under arid conditions. We found that grains both species were immersed in a pollenkitt constituted ~60% pollen. Successful pollination was achieved by large bees inserting into narrow stylar tube. that, upon removal pollenkitt, ...

Under laboratory conditions, snail Indoplanorbis exustus exhibited a strongly positive linear correlationship between duration of desiccation to mortality and body-weight loss and also body-weight loss to mortality. The adult stage of snail is highly resistant to desiccation, whereas the juvenile stage is highly susceptible. Reasons for decrease in susceptibility to desiccation with increase in...

Background The insect cuticle covers the whole body and all appendages and has bi-directionnal selective permeability: it protects against environmental stress and pathogen infection and also helps to reduce water loss. The adult cuticle is often associated with a superficial layer of fatty acid-derived molecules such as waxes and long chain hydrocarbons that prevent rapid dehydration. The wate...

UNLABELLED Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is a frequent colonizer of the nasopharynx and one of the leading causative agents of otitis media, pneumonia, and meningitis. The current literature asserts that S. pneumoniae is transmitted person to person via respiratory droplets; however, environmental surfaces (fomites) have been linked to the spread of other respiratory pathogens. Desicc...