During the last ten years, knowledge about the multitude of adaptive responses of plants to low oxygen stress has grown immensely. The oxygen sensor mechanism has been discovered, the knowledge about the interaction network of gene expression is expanding and metabolic adaptations have been described in detail. Furthermore, morphological changes were investigated and the regulative mechanisms triggered by plant hormones or reactive oxygen species have been revealed. This book provides a broad overview of all these aspects of low oxygen stress in plants. It integrates knowledge from different disciplines such as molecular biology, biochemistry, ecophysiology and agricultural / horticultural sciences to comprehensively describe how plants cope with low oxygen stress and discuss its ecological and agronomical consequences. This book is written for plant scientists, biochemists and scientists in agriculture and ecophysiology.

Molecular oxygen deficiency leads to altered cellular metabolism and can dramatically reduce crop productivity. Nearly all crops are negatively affected by a lack of oxygen (hypoxia) due to adverse environmental conditions such as excessive rain and soil waterlogging. Extensive efforts to fully understand how plants sense oxygen deficiency and their ability to respond using different strategies are crucial to increase hypoxia tolerance. Progress in our understanding has been significant in recent years. This topic certainly deserves more attention from the academic community; therefore, we have compiled a series of articles reflecting the advancements made thus far.

Aquaporins are channel proteins that facilitate the diffusion of water and small uncharged solutes across cellular membranes. Plant aquaporins form a large family of highly divergent proteins that are involved in many different physiological processes. This book will summarize the recent advances regarding plant aquaporins, their phylogeny, structure, substrate specificity, mechanisms of regulation and roles in various important physiological processes related to the control of water flow and small solute distribution at the cell, tissue and plant level in an ever-changing environment.

Completely updated from the successful first edition, this book provides a timely update on the recent progress in our knowledge of all aspects of plant perception, signalling and adaptation to a variety of environmental stresses. It covers in detail areas such as drought, salinity, waterlogging, oxidative stress, pathogens, and extremes of temperature and pH. This second edition presents detailed and up-to-date research on plant responses to a wide range of stresses Includes new full-colour figures to help illustrate the principles outlined in the text Is written in a clear and accessible format, with descriptive abstracts for each chapter. Written by an international team of experts, this book provides researchers with a better understanding of the major physiological and molecular mechanisms facilitating plant tolerance to adverse environmental factors. This new edition of Plant Stress Physiology is an essential resource for researchers and students of ecology, plant biology, agriculture, agronomy and plant breeding.

Third International Symposium on `Structure and Function of Roots', NITRA, Czechoslovakia, August 3-7, 1987

The ability of cells to sense and respond to changes in oxygenation underlies a multitude of developmental, physiological, and pathological processes. This volume provides a comprehensive compendium of experimental approaches to the study of oxygen sensing in 48 chapters that are written by leaders in their fields.

This book provides detailed and comprehensive information on oxidative damage caused by stresses in plants with especial reference to the metabolism of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In plants, as in all aerobic organisms, ROS are common by-products formed by the inevitable leakage of electrons onto O2 from the electron transport activities located in chloroplasts, mitochondria, peroxisomes and in plasma membranes or as a consequence of various metabolic pathways confined in different cellular loci. Environmental stresses such as heat, cold, drought, salinity, heavy-metal toxicity, ozone and ultraviolet radiation as well as pathogens/contagion attack lead to enhanced generation of ROS in plants due to disruption of cellular homeostasis. ROS play a dual role in plants; at low concentrations they act as signaling molecules that facilitate several responses in plant cells, including those promoted by biotic and abiotic agents. In divergence, at high levels they cause damage to cellular constituents triggering oxidative stress. In either case, small antioxidant molecules and enzymes modulate the action of these ambivalent species.

Plants depend on physiological mechanisms to combat adverse environmental conditions, such as pathogen attack, wounding, drought, cold, freezing, salt, UV, intense light, heavy metals and SO2. Many of these cause excess production of active oxygen species in plant cells. Plants have evolved complex defense systems against such oxidative stress. The