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Molecular Plant Advance Access originally published online on March 31, 2009
Molecular Plant 2009 2(3):478-486; doi:10.1093/mp/ssp018
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© The Author 2009. Published by the Molecular Plant Shanghai Editorial Office in association with Oxford University Press on behalf of CSPP and IPPE, SIBS, CAS.

Between a Rock and a Dry Place: The Water-Stressed Moss

Audra J. Charron and Ralph S. Quatrano1

Department of Biology, Washington University in St Louis, 1 Brookings Dr., St Louis, MO 63130, USA

1 To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail rsq{at}wustl.edu, fax 314-935-8504, tel. 314-935-6820.

The earliest land plants faced a suite of abiotic stresses largely unknown to their aquatic algal ancestors. The descendants of these plants evolved two general mechanisms for survival in the relatively arid aerial environment. While the vascular plants or ‘tracheophytes’ developed tissue specializations to transport and retain water, the other main lineages of land plants, the bryophytes, retained a simple, nonvascular morphology. The bryophytes—mosses, hornworts, and liverworts—continually undergo a co-equilibration of their water content with the surrounding environment and rely to a great extent on intrinsic cellular mechanisms to mitigate damage due to water stress. This short review will focus on the cellular and molecular responses to dehydration and rehydration in mosses, and offer insights into general plant responses to water stress.

Key Words: Abiotic/environmental stress • ABA • poikilohydry • Tortula ruralis • bryophytes • Physcomitrella patens


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