Now, this is important because plants are stuck in the ground. They use what I call a highly tuned chemical arsenal to protect themselves from all the stresses of their environment. So it's important that we look at the chemical changes involved in drying.
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And at the last study that we do at the molecular level, we look at the lipidome -- the lipid changes in response to drying. And that's also important because all biological membranes are made of lipids. They're held as membranes because they're in water. Take away the water, those membranes fall apart. Lipids also act as signals to turn on genes.
Then we use physiological and biochemical studies to try and understand the function of the putative protectants that we've actually discovered in our other studies. And then use all of that to try and understand how the plant copes with its natural environment.
I've always had the philosophy that I needed a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms of desiccation tolerance in order to make a meaningful suggestion for a biotic application.