title: Trehalose and plant stress responses: friend or foe?
abstract: The disaccharide trehalose is involved in stress response in many organisms. However, in plants, its precise role remains unclear, although some data indicate that trehalose has a protective role during abiotic stresses. By contrast, some trehalose metabolism mutants exhibit growth aberrations, revealing potential negative effects on plant physiology. Contradictory effects also appear under biotic stress conditions. Specifically, trehalose is essential for the infectivity of several pathogens but at the same time elicits plant defense. Here, we argue that trehalose should not be regarded only as a protective sugar but rather like a double-faced molecule and that further investigation is required to elucidate its exact role in stress tolerance in plants.
authors.affiliation: Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne, Unité de Recherche Vignes et Vins de Champagne - Stress et Environnement (EA 2069), UFR Sciences Exactes et Naturelles, BP 1039, 51687 Reims Cedex 2, France.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Fernandez
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Béthencourt
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Quero
authors.forename: Rajbir S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Sangwan
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Clément
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D006801:Humans; D059828:Plant Cells; D010944:Plants / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D013559:Symbiosis; D014199:Trehalose / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014199:Trehalose