Even though everyone has planted dry seeds in their garden, or observed the germination of fungal spores in bread-making, very little is known about how dry biological systems like seeds and spores survive. Recent work shows that sugars provide protection for membranes as they are dried. Sugars are abundant in dry seeds and spores. An additional aspect of the protection of dry systems is the possibility of vitrification--the cytoplasm becomes a highly viscous liquid. This project will establish the extent to which vitrification contributes to survival desiccation in a variety of organisms. Model experiments show that complex proteins and membrane/enzyme complexes can be preserved in the dry state by providing "vitrifying sugars" before drying. These studies may lead to methods of preserving genetic products. //
