Effects of low temperature stress on chloroplast development in a range of Zea mays cultivars

Abstract

One photosynthetic characteristic, chloroplast development, was used to evaluate tolerance to chilling in a range of Zea mays L. cultivars. Seedlings of six different cultivars of Zea mays were grown in controlled environment chambers at daytime temperatures of 14 °C, 17 °C and 25 °C and their thylakoid polypeptide profiles examined. With reduced growth temperature decreases in many polypeptides were observed, particularly those with apparent molecular masses ranging from 30–42 kDa, 43–67 kDa and 68–71 kDa. However, a number of other polypeptides with lower apparent molecular masses ranging from 14–20 kDa accumulated in some cultivars at the lower growth temperatures, especially at 14 °C. The comparatively uniform reduction in specific thylakoid polypeptides at lower growth temperatures in the six cultivars examined suggest that thylakoid polypeptide profiles may be used as a criterion for screening low temperature tolerance in maize lines.