Abstract
Plants are constantly exposed to a variety of environmental stresses. Freezing or extremely low temperature constitutes a key factor influencing plant growth, development and crop productivity. Plants have evolved a mechanism to enhance tolerance to freezing during exposure to periods of low, but non-freezing temperatures. This phenomenon is called cold acclimation. During cold acclimation, plants develop several mechanisms to minimize potential damages caused by low temperature. Cold response is highly complex process that involves an array of physiological and biochemical modifications. Furthermore, alterations of the expression patterns of many genes, proteins and metabolites in response to cold stress have been reported. Recent studies demonstrate that post-transcriptional and post-translational regulations play a role in the regulation of cold signaling. In this review article, recent advances in cold stress signaling and tolerance are highlighted.
Highlights
One-third of the total land area on Earth is free of ice and 42% of land experiences temperatures below −20 °C [1]
Transcriptome analyses in CBF/DREB1-overexpressing transgenic plants reveal that approximately 12% of COR genes in Arabidopsis are controlled by the CBF/DREB1s, but no significant target specificity among the three
As the siz1 mutant, which is impaired in the SUMO E3 ligase [138], exhibits hypersensitivity to chilling and freezing stresses [26], sumoylation contributes to the regulation of cold signaling through the stabilization of ICE1
Summary
One-third of the total land area on Earth is free of ice and 42% of land experiences temperatures below −20 °C [1]. In such areas, plants require specialized mechanisms to survive exposure to low temperature. This process is known as cold acclimation [2]. Plants of tropical and subtropical origins are sensitive to chilling stress and lack the cold acclimation mechanism. This review highlights cold stress signaling, the transcriptional and post-translational regulation of gene expression during cold acclimation, the interrelationship between cold responses and plant hormones and the transgenic approach to confer cold tolerance onto plants
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