Acid rain is known as the 'air killer' because of its devastating damage to the ecosystem. As the major factor in the terrestrial ecosystem, the toxic effect of acid rain on plants has attracted more attention of researchers. The loss in agriculture and forestry caused by acid rain aggravates the...

Halophytes have evolved a range of adaptations to tolerate disturbances in reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis caused by high salinity alone or in combination with other stresses. Singlet oxygen (¹O₂), superoxide anion (O₂^.-), hydroxyl radical (OH^.) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) are the major...

Plant cells sensing pathogenic microorganisms evoke defence systems that can confer resistance to infection. This immune reaction can include triggering of basal defence responses as well as programmed cell death, or hypersensitive response (HR). In both cases (basal defence and HR), pathogen...

This chapter provides an overview of the current understanding of the preparative processes of sperm that are required to achieve mammalian fertilization. The consequences of semen processing, e.g. for semen storage or for flow cytometry sorting, for sperm integrity and its fertilization capacity...

Plant cells sensing pathogenic microorganisms evoke defence systems that can confer resistance to infection. This immune reaction can include triggering of basal defence responses as well as programmed cell death, or hypersensitive response (HR). In both cases (basal defence and HR), pathogen...

Cold acclimation-induced increase in freezing tolerance is associated with diverse changes in the plasma membrane, which ultimately results in an increase in the cryostability of the plasma membrane during a freeze-thaw excursion and an acceleration of the recovery process after thawing. Many...

Sulfur represents one of the essential macronutrients for plant nutrition. The main source of sulfur is as sulfate taken up from the soil by the roots. Cellular influx across the plasma membrane as well as efflux from the vacuoles is mediated by members of a single gene family. This plant sulfate...

At least 69 sugar transporter homologs have been found from Arabidopsis. They fall into eight large families: hexose transporter (STP/HXT), sucrose transporter (SUC/SUT), polyol transporter (PLT), myo-inositol transporter (ITR/MIT), plastidic glucose transporter (pGlcT), putative monosaccharide...

This paper focuses on several selected cold-responsive plasma membrane proteins and examines their functions in direct relation to cold acclimatization. The proteins include dehydrins (ERD10 and ERD14), outer membrane lipoprotein-like protein (lipocalin-like: AtLCN), and DREPP-like protein and...

This chapter discusses the gaseous diffusion pathway between a commodity's cytoplasm and the atmosphere; effect of pH and temperature on gas exchange through biological membranes; cytosol resistance; cell wall permeability; resistance of the mitochondria; total gas transport resistance; ethylene...