Water and Life : Comparative Analysis of Water Relationships at the Organismic, Cellular, and Molecular Levels

Presenting an analysis of the water relationships of the major groups of organisms: fungi, plants and animals, the text examines water stress at all levels of biological organization. Topics covered include: 1) organic osmotic agents: their distributions, modes of action, and mechanisms of regulation; 2) desiccation stress; mechanisms for preserving cellu lar integrity under conditions of low cellular water activity; 3) water stress and water compartmentation in plants; and 4) freezing stress: the prevention and regulation of ice formation in biological fluids, and mechanisms for overcoming the damaging effects of low temperatures on cellular integrity. Common adaptive strategies in diverse organisms are emphasized, as well as the fundamental physical-chemical properties of aqueous solutions that establish the nature of the interactions among water, low molecular weight solutes and macromolecules. Front Matter....Pages I-XI Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Adapting to Water Stress: Convergence on Common Solutions....Pages 3-18 Compatible and Counteracting Aspects of Organic Osmolytes in Mammalian Kidney Cells in Vivo and in Vitro....Pages 19-32 Molecular Basis for Accumulation of Compatible Osmolytes in Mammalian Cells....Pages 33-51 Compatible Solute Synthesis and Compartmentation in Higher Plants....Pages 52-60 Osmotic Control of Transcription of the proU Operon of Salmonella typhimurium ....Pages 61-69 A Physicochemical Basis for the Selection of Osmolytes by Nature....Pages 70-84 Front Matter....Pages 85-85 Membrane Integrity in Anhydrobiotic Organisms: Toward a Mechanism for Stabilizing Dry Cells....Pages 87-103 Water Content and Metabolic Organization in Anhydrobiotic Animals....Pages 104-127 Macroautophagy Triggered by Sucrose Starvation in Higher Plant Cells: Analysis of a Model for Prolonged Carbon Deprivation Under Water Stress....Pages 128-140 Desiccation Tolerance in Vegetative Plant Tissues and Seeds: Protein Synthesis in Relation to Desiccation and a Potential Role for Protection and Repair Mechanisms....Pages 141-160 Water in Dry Organisms....Pages 161-169 Front Matter....Pages 171-171 The Biophysics of Plant Water: Compartmentation, Coupling with Metabolic Processes, and Flow of Water in Plant Roots....Pages 173-204 Water Compartmentation in Plant Tissue: Isotopic Evidence....Pages 205-222 Photosynthetic Water Oxidation and Water Stress in Plants....Pages 223-239 Desiccation and Freezing Phenomena for Plants with Large Water Capacitance — Cacti and Espeletias....Pages 240-257 Front Matter....Pages 259-259 Ice Nucleating Agents in Cold-Hardy Insects....Pages 261-281 Hemolymph Proteins Involved in the Cold Tolerance of Terrestrial Arthropods: Antifreeze and Ice Nucleator Proteins....Pages 282-300 The Role of Antifreeze Glycopeptides and Peptides in the Survival of Cold-water Fishes....Pages 301-315 Freeze-Thaw Injury and Cryoprotection of Thylakoid Membranes....Pages 316-337 Freeze-Induced Dehydration and Membrane Destabilization in Plants....Pages 338-362 Back Matter....Pages 363-371