Formation and Properties of the Glassy Matrix: Vitrification Mechanism in Haberlea rhodopensis and the Resurrection Plants
- 1Center of Plant Systems Biology and Biotechnology, Knyaz Boris I Pokrastitel 14, 4023 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
- 2Department of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biology, University of Plovdiv, 24 Tsar Assen Str., 4000 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Abstract
Cytoplasmic vitrification is the standard explanation for how resurrection plants endure drying, yet the glass is rarely examined in tissue—its composition, glass transition and residual water remain unresolved. We characterize the glassy matrix of Haberlea rhodopensis by integrating transcriptomic and metabolomic data, biophysical modeling and targeted experiments. Sugar-metabolism genes, such as SUCROSE-PHOSPHATE SYNTHASES and SUCROSE SYNTHASES, respond to desiccation with strong concordance across three studies (Kendall’s W = 0.872; 81 genes measured in all three) and, with the metabolites, define a four-component glass-former set—sucrose plus the raffinose family oligosaccharides raffinose, stachyose and verbascose, with sucrose dominant (~92%). Apparent contradictions are plausibly explained: INVERTASE induction is consistent with compartmental separation from accumulating sucrose and declining trehalose with trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P) signaling, not vitrification. A parameterized state diagram traces the desiccation–rehydration path through vitrification and predicts that unfreezable water is locked throughout the glass. Desiccated tissue survived liquid nitrogen (−196 °C), suggesting that freezing tolerance reflects vitrification. Rewetting dried tissue was exothermic, consistent with an amorphous glass. We argue the residual water is functionally bound, that late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins help shape the glass, and hypothesize that natural deep eutectic solvent (NaDES)-forming metabolites provide a transient reaction medium.
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BibTeX
@article{tonchev2026formation,
title = {{Formation and Properties of the Glassy Matrix: Vitrification Mechanism in Haberlea rhodopensis and the Resurrection Plants}},
author = {Lyudmil Tonchev and Nikola Staykov and Tsanko Gechev},
journal = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/ijms27219405},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/27/21/9405},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Formation and Properties of the Glassy Matrix: Vitrification Mechanism in Haberlea rhodopensis and the Resurrection Plants
AU - Lyudmil Tonchev
AU - Nikola Staykov
AU - Tsanko Gechev
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/22
JO - International Journal of Molecular Sciences
DO - 10.3390/ijms27219405
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/27/21/9405
AB - Cytoplasmic vitrification is the standard explanation for how resurrection plants endure drying, yet the glass is rarely examined in tissue—its composition, glass transition and residual water remain unresolved. We characterize the glassy matrix of Haberlea rhodopensis by integrating transcriptomic and metabolomic data, biophysical modeling and targeted experiments. Sugar-metabolism genes, such as SUCROSE-PHOSPHATE SYNTHASES and SUCROSE SYNTHASES, respond to desiccation with strong concordance across three studies (Kendall’s W = 0.872; 81 genes measured in all three) and, with the metabolites, define a four-component glass-former set—sucrose plus the raffinose family oligosaccharides raffinose, stachyose and verbascose, with sucrose dominant (~92%). Apparent contradictions are plausibly explained: INVERTASE induction is consistent with compartmental separation from accumulating sucrose and declining trehalose with trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P) signaling, not vitrification. A parameterized state diagram traces the desiccation–rehydration path through vitrification and predicts that unfreezable water is locked throughout the glass. Desiccated tissue survived liquid nitrogen (−196 °C), suggesting that freezing tolerance reflects vitrification. Rewetting dried tissue was exothermic, consistent with an amorphous glass. We argue the residual water is functionally bound, that late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins help shape the glass, and hypothesize that natural deep eutectic solvent (NaDES)-forming metabolites provide a transient reaction medium.
SN - 1422-0067
ER -