Desiccation Tolerance in Moss and Liverwort: Insights into the Evolutionary Mechanisms of Terrestrialization

Abstract

As a monophyletic group, bryophytes—mosses, liverworts, and hornworts—represent some of the earliest land plants, evolving under harsh terrestrial conditions that prompted major morphological, physiological, and molecular changes. Limited water availability, extreme temperatures, and osmotic stresses often caused cellular desiccation in these pioneering plants. Because bryophytes occupy a key position in land-plant evolution and are closely related to streptophyte algae, their desiccation-tolerance strategies hold significant evolutionary importance. Early adaptations included changes in growth patterns and the formation of specialized vegetative structures. Bryophytes also survive extreme habitats by regulating physiological and biochemical traits such as photosynthetic pigment maintenance, osmotic adjustment, membrane stability, redox balance, and the accumulation of compatible solutes and stress-responsive proteins. Advances in molecular biology and whole-genome sequencing of model mosses and liverworts have further revealed that they possess diverse stress-responsive signaling components, including phytohormones, receptor proteins, protein kinases, and key transcription factors that control stress-related gene expression. However, a comprehensive synthesis of these molecular mechanisms is still lacking. This review aims to provide an updated overview of how mosses and liverworts use plant growth regulators, stress-responsive proteins, compatible solutes, antioxidants, and integrated signaling networks to survive in dry terrestrial environments.