TY - JOUR
T1 - Plants in Extreme Environments. Importance of Protective Compounds in Stress Tolerance
AU - Szabados, László
AU - Kovács, Hajnalka
AU - Zilberstein, Aviah
AU - Bouchereau, Alain
N1 - Funding Information:
Authors are indebted to Ilse Kranner, Csaba Papdi and Laura Zsigmond for proofreading and correcting the chapter. Research and this publication were supported by OTKA grant K-68226, Cross-Border Cooperation Programme HURO/0801/167 and COST Action FA0901.
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Extreme environmental conditions such as drought, cold or high soil salinity impede plant growth and require specific adaptation capacity. In response to environmental stresses, a number of low-molecular-weight compounds can accumulate in plants: protective amino acids, sugar alcohols, sugars and betaine-type quaternary amines. The function of these compounds includes the stabilisation of cellular structures, photosynthetic complexes, specific enzymes and other macromolecules, the scavenging of reactive oxygen species or acting as metabolic signals in stress conditions. Although a correlation between the accumulation of certain osmoprotective compounds and stress tolerance certainly exists, a causal relationship between osmolyte accumulation and enhanced tolerance could not always be confirmed. Nevertheless, the importance of osmoprotective compounds for the adaptation to extreme environmental conditions is supported by numerous studies obtained with natural variants, mutants or transgenic plants with different capabilities to accumulate these metabolites. Combining genetic analysis with metabolic profiling approaches could considerably increase our understanding of plant stress responses and the importance of the protective metabolites in the adaptation to stress conditions.
AB - Extreme environmental conditions such as drought, cold or high soil salinity impede plant growth and require specific adaptation capacity. In response to environmental stresses, a number of low-molecular-weight compounds can accumulate in plants: protective amino acids, sugar alcohols, sugars and betaine-type quaternary amines. The function of these compounds includes the stabilisation of cellular structures, photosynthetic complexes, specific enzymes and other macromolecules, the scavenging of reactive oxygen species or acting as metabolic signals in stress conditions. Although a correlation between the accumulation of certain osmoprotective compounds and stress tolerance certainly exists, a causal relationship between osmolyte accumulation and enhanced tolerance could not always be confirmed. Nevertheless, the importance of osmoprotective compounds for the adaptation to extreme environmental conditions is supported by numerous studies obtained with natural variants, mutants or transgenic plants with different capabilities to accumulate these metabolites. Combining genetic analysis with metabolic profiling approaches could considerably increase our understanding of plant stress responses and the importance of the protective metabolites in the adaptation to stress conditions.
KW - Environmental stress
KW - Glycine betaine
KW - Mannitol
KW - Pinitol
KW - Proline
KW - Protective compound
KW - Trehalose
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79955150221&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/B978-0-12-387692-8.00004-7
DO - 10.1016/B978-0-12-387692-8.00004-7
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AN - SCOPUS:79955150221
SN - 0065-2296
VL - 57
SP - 105
EP - 150
JO - Advances in Botanical Research
JF - Advances in Botanical Research
ER -