Abstract
Resurrection plants have an extraordinary ability to survive extreme water loss but still revive full metabolic activity when rehydrated. These plants are useful models to understand the complex biology of vegetative desiccation tolerance. Despite extensive studies of resurrection plants, many details underlying the mechanisms of desiccation tolerance remain unexplored. To summarize the progress in resurrection plant research and identify unexplored questions, we conducted a systematic review of 15 model angiosperm resurrection plants. This systematic review provides an overview of publication trends on resurrection plants, the geographical distribution of species and studies, and the methodology used. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta–Analyses protocol we surveyed all publications on resurrection plants from 2000 and 2020. This yielded 185 empirical articles that matched our selection criteria. The most investigated plants were Craterostigma plantagineum (17.5%), Haberlea rhodopensis (13.7%), Xerophyta viscosa (reclassified as X. schlechteri) (11.9%), Myrothamnus flabellifolia (8.5%), and Boea hygrometrica (8.1%), with all other species accounting for less than 8% of publications. The majority of studies have been conducted in South Africa, Bulgaria, Germany, and China, but there are contributions from across the globe. Most studies were led by researchers working within the native range of the focal species, but some international and collaborative studies were also identified. The number of annual publications fluctuated, with a large but temporary increase in 2008. Many studies have employed physiological and transcriptomic methodologies to investigate the leaves of resurrection plants, but there was a paucity of studies on roots and only one metagenomic study was recovered. Based on these findings we suggest that future research focuses on resurrection plant roots and microbiome interactions to explore microbial communities associated with these plants, and their role in vegetative desiccation tolerance.
Highlights
Even though water is essential to life, plants are often faced with shortages of this valuable resource due to their sessile nature
A total of 15 angiosperm resurrection plants were selected for inclusion, namely B. hygrometrica, C. plantagineum, C. pumilum, C. wilmsii, E. nindensis, H. rhodopensis, L. brevidens, M. flabellifolia, O. thomaeum, R. nathaliae, R. serbica, S. stapfianus, T. loliiformis, X. humilis, and X. schlechteri
Our analyses showed that research efforts have been skewed to C. plantagineum, H. rhodopensis, B. hygrometrica, and Xerophyta spp
Summary
Even though water is essential to life, plants are often faced with shortages of this valuable resource due to their sessile nature. Many have evolved sophisticated strategies for resisting, avoiding or tolerating water shortages [1,2]. One of the most successful adaptations to such extreme drought is desiccation tolerance—the ability to survive water loss to 10% relative water content (RWC), equivalent to 0.1 g H2 O/g dry weight, and revive full metabolism when rehydrated [3]. Such plants are commonly called resurrection plants [4]. Resurrection plants are extremely diverse, representing at least 10 families [5] across both monocotyledon and dicotyledon lineages
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