Cold stress and acclimation – what is important for metabolic adjustment?

Abstract

As sessile organisms, plants are unable to escape from the many abiotic and biotic factors that cause a departure from optimal conditions of growth and development. Low temperature represents one of the most harmful abiotic stresses affecting temperate plants. These species have adapted to seasonal variations in temperature by adjusting their metabolism during autumn, increasing their content of a range of cryo-protective compounds to maximise their cold tolerance. Some of these molecules are synthesised de novo. The down-regulation of some gene products represents an additional important regulatory mechanism. Ways in which plants cope with cold stress are described, and the current state of the art with respect to both the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and crop plants in the area of gene expression and metabolic pathways during low-temperature stress are discussed.

Systemic Cold Stress Adaptation of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

“…In Chlamydomonas, a moderate chilling stress lead to a decreased growth rate, chlorosis, progressive membrane and oxidative damage (1) whereas severe stress, with temperatures below 3°C, lead to cell death after a short period. These injuries are similar to those observed in higher plants (2), in which growth and development are also reduced by a direct inhibition of metabolic reactions and, indirectly, through cold-induced osmotic, oxidative, energetic, and other stresses (3).…”

“…Despite the suitability of this species for studying temperature stress (stress can be applied homogenously and rapidly to all cells, vegetative cells are undifferentiated, the genome is sequenced (82), gene families are smaller compared with higher plants), to our knowledge, there are no studies about cold stress in C. reinhardtii. Former studies in plant biology have described mechanisms implied in the cold response such as metabolomic changes (30,53,(83)(84)(85), integration of metabolomic and proteomic phenotypes (30), anatomical changes, sugar accumulation (15,26), late embryogenesis abundant (LEA), and heat shock (HSP) proteins mediating stabilization of membranes and proteins (65,86), and the activation of C-repeatbinding factor and dehydration responsive element-binding factor 1 (CBF/DREB) responsive pathways (2,9). Most of these studies have been focused on individual mechanisms with comparison of control versus stressed plants.…”

SWAPDT: A method for Short-time Withering Assessment of Probability for Drought Tolerance in Camellia sinensis validated by targeted metabolomics

“…The levels of proline in the current study were significantly (p < 0.04) higher in DT as compared to DS cultivars. This is attributed to the P5CS gene, which is highly expressed in tolerant than susceptible varieties under drought stress resulting in an accumulation of proline in Rapeseed (Janská et al, 2010). The results also showed an increase in the levels of isoleucine in the DT cultivars while aspartic acid levels were lower in the DT.…”

Global analysis of gene expression in maize leaves treated with low temperature. II. Combined effect of severe cold (8 °C) and circadian rhythm

“…Descriptions as in Table 1 factor 115), from the DREB subfamily. Notably, the latter, an ortholog of CBF2/DREB1C, a negative regulator of the TFs CBF1/DREB1B and CBF3/DREB1A (Janská et al 2010), was one of the most strongly and quickly up-regulated genes. These three TFs are components of the CBF/DREB pathway engaged in the A. thaliana response to cold.…”