TaTPS11 enhances wheat cold resistance by regulating source-sink factor

Abstract

The presence of sugar in plant tissue can lead to an increase in the osmotic pressure within cells, a decrease in the freezing point of plants, and protection against ice crystal damage to the tissue. Trehalose is closely related to sucrose, which comprises the largest proportion of sugar and has become a hot topic of research in recent years. Our previous studies have confirmed that a key trehalose synthesis gene, TaTPS11, from the cold-resistant winter wheat DM1, could enhance the cold resistance of plants by increasing sugar content. However, the underlying mechanism behind this phenomenon remains unclear. In this study, we cloned TaTPS11-6D, edited TaTPS11-6D using CRISPR/Cas9 technology and transformed ‘Fielder’ to obtain T2 generation plants. We screened out OE3-3 and OE8-7 lines with significantly higher cold resistance than that of ‘Fielder’ and Cri 4–3 edited lines with significantly lower cold resistance than that of ‘Fielder’. Low temperature storage limiting factors were measured for OE3-3, OE8-7 and Cri 4–3 treated at different temperatures.The results showed that TaTPS11-6D significantly increased the content of sugar in plants and the transfer of sugar from source to storage organs under cold conditions. The TaTPS11-6D significantly increased the levels of salicylic, jasmonic, and abscisic acids while also significantly decreasing the level of gibberellic acid. Our research improves the model of low temperature storage capacity limiting factor.