Abstract
It has now been demonstrated that treatment of Arabidopsis plants with glycine betaine (GB) can improve tolerance to chilling stress by causing gene expression changes that are required for GB's effect. Several lines of evidence also directly implicate reactive oxygen species (ROS) signaling with chilling effects. These findings mean that GB can be used as a ligand for chemical genetics to identify new chilling stress determinants (genes) related to ROS signaling. They also suggest that the genes identified have potential as starting points for cultivar development programs with Brassica species. This paper describes progress with gene discovery for tolerance to chilling stress in Arabidopsis, focusing on the three genes identified so far: i.e. a bZIP transcription factor (At3g62420), the membrane trafficking protein RabA4c GTPase (At5g47960) and the FRO2 ferric reductase (At1g01580). A model is presented for ROS signalling during chilling stress, emphasizing gene expression, membrane trafficking and iron metabolism.
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