In recent years, the definition of the term stress
(meaning “strain” in English) has been extended, so
that it is now used in reference to higher and lower
plants and even microorganisms, as opposed to the
original usage implying humans and animals [1–3].
The Canadian physiologist Hans Selye, who coined the
term in the 1930s [4], believed that the ability of an
organism to adaptation is related to concentration and
exertion, in the sense of strenuous efforts undertaken to
mobilize this organism’s defense systems. Similarity of
stress reactions in bacteria (the most ancient inhabitants
of Earth) [3] to those occurring in contemporary representatives
of eukaryotes [1, 2, 4] is currently a welldocumented
fact.