That’s a great idea—cacti are like nature’s tiny water banks. Their stems are thick, spongy, and have a high cellulose-to-lignin ratio, which lets them soak up and hold water without losing too much through evaporation. The shallow, wide-spreading roots catch rain quickly, and the areoles on the stems have stomata that close tightly when the air is dry. If you dig into the physiology, you’ll find that their mesophyll cells can swell up to ten times their normal volume, which is amazing for a plant that lives in the desert. We could look at how their cell walls are structured or how they regulate ion transport during drought. Let me know which angle intrigues you most.

Sure thing—let’s look at the ion transport that keeps cacti’s cells turgid when it’s scorching. The main players are the H⁺‑ATPase pumps on the plasma membrane. They pump protons out of the cell, creating an electrochemical gradient. This gradient drives the uptake of potassium (K⁺) and chloride (Cl⁻) through secondary transporters. The influx of these ions pulls water in osmotically, raising turgor pressure. When the plant gets super hot, the H⁺‑ATPase activity ramps up, maintaining that gradient so the cells stay firm and the plant doesn’t wilt. So the quick win: monitor H⁺‑ATPase activity and K⁺/Cl⁻ fluxes under heat stress. Let me know if you want the exact genes or if we should start measuring in the field.