Divergence in the transcriptional landscape between low temperature and freeze shock in cultivated grapevine (Vitis vinifera)

Abstract

Low-temperature stresses limit the sustainability and productivity of grapevines when early spring frosts damage young grapevine leaves. Spring conditions often expose grapevines to low, but not damaging, chilling temperatures and these temperatures have been shown to increase freeze resistance in other model systems. In this study, we examined whole-transcriptome gene expression patterns of young leaf tissue from cuttings of five different grapevine cultivars, exposed to chill and freeze shock, in order to understand the underlying transcriptional landscape associated with cold stress response. No visible damage was observed when grapevine leaves were exposed to chilling temperatures while freeze temperatures resulted in variable damage in all cultivars. Significant differences in gene expression were observed between warm control conditions and all types of cold stress. Exposure to chill stress (4 °C) versus freezing stress (−3 °C) resulted in very different patterns of gene expression and enriched pathway responses. Genes from the ethylene signaling, ABA signaling, the AP2/ERF, WRKY, and NAC transcription factor families, and starch/sucrose/galactose pathways were among the most commonly observed to be differentially regulated. Preconditioning leaves to chill temperatures prior to freezing temperatures resulted in slight buffering of gene expression responses, suggesting that differences between chill and freeze shock perception complicates identification of candidate genes for cold resistance in grapevine. Overall, the transcriptional landscape contrasts observed between low temperature and freezing stresses demonstrate very different activation of candidate pathways impacting grapevine cold response.

BSR-Seq Analysis Provides Insights into Cold Stress in Actinidia Arguta F1 Populations

“…The pathways associated with starch and sugar metabolism were signi cantly enriched. Cold treatment also seemed to trigger enzymes responsible for the production of amylose, starch, maltose, and dextrin [35]. A few key changes in gene expression suggested that these pathways were utilized differently between F 1 populations with different cold tolerances.…”

“…Plants have evolved sophisticated strategies in which hormone and cold signaling pathways are coordinated to better adapt to freezing stress. Ethylene insensitive 3 (EIN3) is a key transcription factor involved in ethylene signaling that negatively regulates freezing tolerance in Arabidopsis, partially by affecting the expression of CBFs by binding to the EBS motifs in their promoters [35,43]. Two F-box proteins, EIN3-binding F-box 1/2 (EBF1/2), positively regulate CBF expression by mediating the degradation of EIN3 and PIF3 via the 26S proteasome pathway [44,45].…”

The ethylene response factor VaERF092 from Amur grape regulates the transcription factor VaWRKY33, improving cold tolerance

“…Expression data of grapevine genes co‐expressed under normal and cold/low‐temperature treatments was retrieved from Londo et al . (). Similarly, the expression of A. thaliana co‐expressed genes was retrieved via the Bio‐Analytic Resource (BAR, http://bar.utoronto.ca/) expression browser tool from the ‘AtGenExpress – Stress series’ and ‘Cold stress’ option.…”

Grape-RNA: A Database for the Collection, Evaluation, Treatment, and Data Sharing of Grape RNA-Seq Datasets

“…The RNA-seq data of overexpression plants can present new insights into the regulation network of many genes [6,9,10]. A comparison of the RNA-seq datasets of plants under different abiotic or biotic stresses can yield candidate genes related to these stresses [5,[11][12][13]. Breeders can explore the inherent rules of plant breeding and cultivation according to the expression status of the RNA-seq in different plants or areas [14].…”