1. Another Tale from the Harsh World: How Plants Adapt to Extreme Environments
- Author
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Yves Gibon, Claudio Latorre, Pierre Pétriacq, Rodrigo A. Gutiérrez, Dominique Rolin, Francisca P. Díaz, Thomas Dussarrat, Guillaume Decros, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC), Biologie du fruit et pathologie (BFP), Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Université de Bordeaux (UB), Plateforme Metabolome Bordeaux, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), and Université de Bordeaux (UB)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,0303 health sciences ,abiotic stress ,Abiotic stress ,Ecology ,[SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio] ,adaptation ,15. Life on land ,Biology ,01 natural sciences ,03 medical and health sciences ,redox ,Extremophile ,Extreme environment ,[SDV.BV]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Vegetal Biology ,extreme environment ,Adaptation ,metaphenomics ,extremophile ,metabolism ,030304 developmental biology ,010606 plant biology & botany - Abstract
International audience; The environmental fluctuations of a constantly evolving world can mould a changing context, often unfavourable to sessile organisms that must adjust their resource allocation between both resistance or tolerance mechanisms and growth. Plants bear the fascinating ability to survive and thrive under extreme conditions, a capacity that has always attracted the curiosity of humans, who have discovered and improved species capable of meeting our physiological needs. In this context, plant research has produced a great wealth of knowledge on the responses of plants to a range of abiotic stresses, mostly considering model species and/or controlled conditions. However, there is still minimal comprehension of plant adaptations and acclimations to extreme environments, which cries out for future investigations. In this article, we examined the main advances in understanding the adapted traits fixed through evolution that allowed for plant resistance against abiotic stress in extreme natural ecosystems. Spatio-temporal adaptations from extremophile plant species are described from morpho-anatomical features to physiological function and metabolic pathways adjustments. Considering that metabolism is at the heart of plant adaptations, a focus is given to the study of primary and secondary metabolic adjustments as well as redox metabolism under extreme conditions. This article further casts a critical glance at the main successes in studying extreme environments and examines some of the challenges and opportunities this research offers, especially considering the possible interaction with ecology and metaphenomics.
- Published
- 2021