Physiology of Stressed Crops, Vol. 4

Introduction to Osmoregulation: Introduction; Non-osmotic (Specific) Effects of Some Stress-induced Metabolits; Preconditioning; Osmoregulation and Environment; Inheritance of Osmotic Adjustment; Improvement Aspects; References; Measurement of Osmotic Adjustment; Suggested Readings?Inorganic Osmolytes: Introduction; The dominating role of potassium ion; K+-uptake mechanism; Sodium: Potassium uptake; The indirect role of calcium; Ion uptake as affected by different types of stresses; Improvement work; References; Brief descriptions of some procedures used; Patch-clamp method (Adopted from Lew, 1991); Suggested readings?Sugars ? The Key Osmolytes: Freeze-induced dehydration; Drought-induced dehydration; Salinity-induced dehydration; Sugars and dehydration-induced ROS; Toxic ion (arsenic) stress; High light-intensity stress; Heat stress; Sucrose and stress metabolism; References; Some procedures used; Suggested readings?Complex Sugars ? Cyclitols: Introduction; Cold stress; Salinity stress; Drought stress; Nutrient stress; The stress of ROS; Improvement work; References; Brief description of some procedures used; Suggested readings?Proline: Introduction; Proline biosynthesis in stressed plants; Localization and transport; Stressinduced proline accumulation and stress mitigation; Salinity stress; Drought stress; Cold and freezing stress; Improvement; References; Some procedures used; Suggested reading?Glycinebetaine: Introduction; Biosynthesis in stressed plants; GB-induced mechanism of stress tolerance; Subcellular localization of GB; Stress induced GB accumulation and stress mitigation; Drought stress; Salinity stress; Cold stress; Heat stress; Oxidative stress; Improvement; Variability; Genetics/ Inheritance; Metabolic engineering; Practical application and future perspective; References; Brief description of some procedures used; Suggested reading?Polymines: Introduction; Biosynthesis; Polyamines and root growth; Stress tolerance; Improvement; References; Method used; HPLC analysis of polyamines (After Hennion and Martin-Tanguy, 2000); Suggested readings?Trehalose: Introduction; Biosynthesis and sugar metabolism; Increased production of unstressed plants; Trehalose vs stress tolerance; Salinity stress; Drought stress; Improvement; Chloroplst vs nuclear engineering; Future perspective; References; Methods used; Detection of trehalose by HPLC with ELSD (Zhou et al., 2001); Trehalase assay (After Jang et al., 2003); Suggested reading?Fructan: Introduction; Biosynthesis; Abiotic stress tolerance; Hypoxia; Mineral nutrient stress; Salinity stress; Improvement; References; Suggested reading?Ectoine: Introduction; Biosynthesis; Transport; Engineering for ectoine production and improvement; References; Method used; Suggested reading?Citrulline: Introduction; Biosynthesis; Mechanism of Action; References; Method used; Suggested reading?ROS and Antioxidants: Introduction; ROS generation and ROS stress; The plant defence mechanism: Generation of ROS-degenerating enzymes and antioxidants; Enzymatic defence; Non-enzymatic defence; Stress induced ROS-detoxification by antioxidants; Cold stress; Heavy metal stress; References; Methods used (After Loggini et al., 1999); Suggested readings