Michelle Norwood, a D.Phil. student in BIOLS, is beginning to unravel the secrets of resurrection - the way in which some plants can dry up during drought but revive from apparent death when the next rain comes. One of these 'resurrection species' is Craterostigma plantagineum, a small herbaceous flowering plant, found in South Africa, which can lose up to 90% of its water content, remain in a dried-up state for as much as a year or more, and then return to normal within 24 hours when it rains.
Few plants can survive for long without water, so how do resurrection plants do it? Michelle, who works in the Plant Stress Unit, thinks she has at least part of the answer. As drought takes hold, sucrose (ordinary common household sugar) accumulates in the leaves and this helps the tissues of the plant to withstand the stresses which accompany shrinkage during water loss and expansion later on contact with water. The sucrose comes from the breakdown of a larger molecule sugar, octulose, which is peculiar to these plants.
Drought is usually fatal for crop plants and for many plants which otherwise could be used to combat soil erosion. Michelle's work could eventually lead to genetic engineering to give these more useful plants the capacity to resurrect. It could also help to make house plants less vulnerable during the holiday season.
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Friday October 16th 1998
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