Cellular response of plant tissue during the osmotic treatment with sucrose, maltose, and trehalose solutions

The impact of three disaccharides - sucrose, maltose, and trehalose - on ce llular shrinkage and cell viability undergone by onion epidermis and strawb erry cortex tissue during the osmotic treatment (OT) and further rehydratio n, in case of onion epidermis, was investigated. Differences in cellular re sponse were observed between both plant tissues. The nature of the sugar em ployed significantly affected the shrinking behaviour of onion epidermis wi thout having any impact on the cellular shrinkage of strawberry tissue. Cel l viability did not suffer any significant change regarding to the nature o f the sugar whereas cell viability of strawberry tissue was strongly affect ed by sugar concentration. The rehydration of onion epidermis showed the ab ility of plasmolysed cells to respond to environmental changes, keeping the ir compartmental properties. During OT a redistribution of the cell membran e took place, causing a reduction of the surface membrane available for swe lling. A protective effect of maltose and trehalose on plasma membrane was only appreciated in onion epidermis. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rig hts reserved.