Light protection mechanism helps revive plants to survive

The resuscitated plants have the special adaptability to the severe environment such as the drastic change of water content, but the mechanism of their resistance to drought is not clear to the scientists Recently, with the support of NSFC, researchers from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden of Chinese Academy of Sciences finally discovered the secret of reviving plants for survival The researchers told China Science Daily that the recovery plants are widely distributed in the lower plants such as bryophytes and ferns and some higher plants After losing more than 95% of the body's water, they can recover from the water to survive the harsh environment It is a protective response of plants to close the stomata of leaves and limit the utilization of light energy in the arid environment Heat dissipation and ring electron transfer are two important ways for plants to protect themselves from injury, but whether these two mechanisms play a very important role in the recovery of plants is uncertain Huang Wei, a doctoral student in Banna botanical garden, under the guidance of Cao Kunfang, a tutor, carried out a light drought treatment on a local resuscitative plant arachnic Chicory in Xishuangbanna At the same time, methyl viologen was used to inhibit the ring electron transfer and heat dissipation, and then strong light treatment was carried out, which showed that the ring electron transfer played an important role in light protection in the recovery of plants The research was published online in the botanical journal planta.