Resurrection of plants and their survival mechanism: Drought perspective

Abstract

Drought is one of the dangerous hazards of environment. Drought stress impinge on growth, membrane integrity, osmatic adjustment, pigment content, photosynthesis and yield. Most of the plant can withstand drought for a short period of time via morphological, physiological and biochemical changes. However, plants are unable to recovery from drought condition when relative water content (RWC) falls below 40% and that condition called desiccation. Effect of desiccation on the survival ability of resurrection plants is low and have ability to withstand cellular water loss up to 95%. These plants assume a dormant state where they can withstand prolonged periods of drought by using morphological, biochemical and cellular mechanisms and resume active metabolism within 24 hours of rehydration. The population of resurrection plants is <2% of total flora and various mechanisms adapted for desiccation tolerance are dissected briefly in this review.