RESULTS: P. haitanensis rapidly adjusted its physiological activities to compensate for water losses up to 60%, after which, photosynthesis, antioxidant systems, chaperones, and cytoskeleton were activated to response to severe desiccation stress. The integrative analysis suggested that transketolase (TKL) was affected by all desiccation treatments. Transgenic C. reinhardtii cells overexpressed PhTKL grew better than the wild-type cells in response to osmotic stress.
CONCLUSIONS: P. haitanensis quickly establishes acclimatory homeostasis regarding its transcriptome and proteome to ensure its thalli can recover after being rehydrated. Additionally, PhTKL is vital for P. haitanensis desiccation tolerance. The present data may provide new insights for the breeding of algae and plants exhibiting enhanced desiccation tolerance.