Einstein International Journal Organization(EIJO)

1. Introduction

Trehalose is a natural alpha linked disaccharide formed by an α,α-1,1-glucoside bond between 2 glucose units. Wiggers in 1832 discovered Trehalose in ergot of rye but this name was assigned to this disaccharide by Berthelot in 1859 who isolated it from cocoons or trehala of desert beetles Larinus nidificans, L.maculates. These edible secretions were known as “trehala manna” by the native people. Trehalose is common sugar in both prokaryotes as well as eukaryotes such as bacteria, fungi and invertebrates (Crowe and Crowe 1984; Elbein et al. 2003) where it serves as an energy source or stress protectant (Muller et al. 1999). Mushrooms contain up to 10–25 % Trehalose by dry weight (Higashiyama 2002). With the notable exception of the desiccation-tolerant ‘‘resurrection plants,’’ including the ferns Selaginella lepidophylla (“rose of Jericho”) (Adams et al. 1990), and S. sartorii  (Iturriaga et al. 2009) Trehalose does not accumulate to detectable levels in most plants (Garg et al. 2002) and  most of the plant species accumulate sucrose as major transport sugar (Wingler 2002). Although distinctly absent in most plants, Trehalose biosynthesis genes were discovered recently in higher plants (Paul et al. 2008; Schleupmann and Paul 2009).

[1]. Adams RP, Kendall E, Kartha KK (1990) Comparison of free sugars in growing and desiccated plants of Selaginella lepidophylla. Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 18: 107-110.

[2]. Avonce N, Leyman B, Thevelein J, Iturriaga G (2005) Trehalose metabolism and glucose sensing in plants. Biochemical Society Transactions 33: 276-279

[3]. Bhandari K, Nayyar H (2014) Low Temperature Stress in Plants: An Overview of Roles of Cryoprotectants in Defense. In: Ahmed P, Wani Md R (eds)  Physiological Mechanisms and Adaptation Strategies in Plants Under Changing Environment, Springer New York, pp 193-265

[4]. Carolina C, Caulinez-Macia FA (2005) Tomato abiotic stress enhanced tolerance by Trehalose biosynthesis. Plant Science 169: 75-82

[5]. Crowe J H, Crowe LM (1984) Effects of dehydration on membranes and membrane stabilization at low water activities. In D Chapman,ed, Biological membranes, vol. 5. Academic Press, London, United Kingdom, pp 58-103

[6]. El-Bashiti T,  Hamamc H, Oktem HA, Yucel M (2005) Biochemical analysis of trehalose and its metabolizing enzymes in wheat under abiotic stress conditions. Plant Science 169: 47-54

[7]. Elbein AD, Pan YT,  Pastuszak I, Carroll D(2003) New insights on trehalose: a multifunctional molecule. Glycobiology 13: 17R-27R

[8]. Garg AK, Kim JK , Owens TG,  Ranwala AP, Choi YD,  Kochian LV, Wu RJ (2002) Trehalose accumulation in rice plants confers high tolerance levels to different abiotic stresses. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 99: 15898-15903

[9]. Higashiyama T (2002) Novel functions and applications of Trehalose. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry 74: 1263-1269

[10]. Iturriaga G, Suarez R, Barbara NF (2009) Trehalose Metabolism: From Osmoprotection to Signaling. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 10: 3793-3810

[11]. Karim S, Aronsson H,  Ericson H, Pirhonen  M, Leyman B , Welin B ,Mantyla E , Palva ET,  Dijck PV,  Holmstrom KO (2007) Improved drought tolerance without undesired side effects in transgenic plants producing trehalose. Plant Molecular Biology  64: 371–386

[12]. Kolbe A, Tiessen A, Schleupmann H, Paul M, Ulrich S, Geigenberger P (2005) Trehalose 6-phosphate regulates starch synthesis via posttranslational redox activation of ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 102: 11118-11123

[13]. Lopez M, Tejera NA, Iribarne C, Lluch C, Herrera-Cervera JA (2008) Trehalose and trehalase in root nodules of Medicago truncatula and Phaseolus vulgaris in response to salt stress. Physiologia Plantarum 134: 575 – 582

[14]. Mihaela I, Ryozo I (2008) Trehalose Biosynthesis in Response to Abiotic Stresses 50:  1223 – 1229

Muller J, Wiemken A, Aeschbacher R (1999) Trehalose metabolism in sugar sensing and plant development. Plant Science 147: 37-47

[15]. Paul MJ, Primavesi LF , Jhurreea D, Zhang Y (2008) Trehalose metabolism and signalling. The Annual Review of Plant Biology 59: 417-441

[16]. Schluepmann H, Paul M (2009) Trehalose Metabolites in Arabidopsis—elusive, active and central. In The Arabidopsis Book. The American Society of Plant Biologists, pp 1-17

[17]. Wingler A (2002) The function of trehalose biosynthesis in plants. Phytochemistry 60: 437-440

Yeo ET, Kwon HB, Han SE, Lee JT, Ryu JC, Byu MO (2000) Genetic engineering of draught resistant potato plants by introduction of trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (TPS1) gene from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Molecules and Cells 10: 263-268