Molecular Regulation of Plant Responses to Environmental Temperatures

Abstract

Temperature is a key factor governing the growth and development, distribution, and seasonal behavior of plants. The entire plant life cycle is affected by environmental temperatures. Plants grow rapidly and exhibit specific changes in morphology under mild average temperature conditions, a response termed thermomorphogenesis. When exposed to chilling or moist chilling low temperatures, flowering or seed germination is accelerated in some plant species; these processes are known as vernalization and cold stratification, respectively. Interestingly, once many temperate plants are exposed to chilling temperatures for some time, they can acquire the ability to resist freezing stress, a process termed cold acclimation. In the face of global climate change, heat stress has emerged as a frequent challenge, which adversely affects plant growth and development. In this review, we summarize and discuss recent progress in dissecting the molecular mechanisms regulating plant thermomorphogenesis, vernalization, and responses to extreme temperatures. We also discuss the remaining issues that are crucial for understanding the interactions between plants and temperature.

Plant adaptation to climate change—Where are we?

“…Over the past decade, numerous studies have reviewed methods employed in dissecting the genetic basis of climatic adaptation, as well as identified candidate genes involved in environmental adaptation (e.g., Franks & Hoffmann, 2012;Sork, 2018;Kelly, 2019;Zaidem et al, 2019;Ding et al, 2020;Waldvogel et al, 2020). In a comprehensive literature review, Franks & Hoffmann (2012) suggested that candidate genes, genetic regulatory networks, and epigenetic effects are involved in climate change adaption.…”

Environmental Signal-Dependent Regulation of Flowering Time in Rice

“…The mechanisms controlling flowering time have been extensively investigated in Arabidopsis, a model dicot plant [ 5 , 12 ]. Flowering time largely depends on changes in the expression of the FLOWERING LOCUS T ( FT ) gene [ 14 , 15 ] ( Figure 1 ).…”

“…The adaptation of rice to these latitudes was enabled by the acquisition of photoperiod-insensitive traits [ 9 , 10 , 11 ]. Several environmental stresses also participate in the regulation of flowering time by affecting the expression of genes associated with the photoperiodic flowering pathway [ 3 , 12 , 13 ]. Thus, identifying key elements controlling photoperiod sensitivity and investigating their responses to other environmental stresses will build a foundation for breeding elite rice varieties with the attributes needed to adapt to particular environments.…”

iTRAQ-Based Quantitative Proteomic Analysis of Heat Stress-Induced Mechanisms in Pepper Seedlings

“…Until now, many studies have investigated the molecular mechanism of heat stress responses. To cope with heat stress, a set of defense mechanisms are activated to protect plants from the heat stressinduced damage, including the change of signal transduction and transcriptional regulation, the accumulation of osmolytes, the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging enzymes, and the synthesis and accumulation of heat shock proteins (HSPs) [2,[5][6][7][8]. The generation and accumulation of ROS caused by heat stress can lead to the peroxidation of membrane lipids and proteins as well as carbohydrate oxidation and DNA damage [9,10].…”