The effect of cold priming on the fitness of Arabidopsis thaliana accessions under natural and controlled conditions

Jelena Cvetkovic,Margarete Baier,Klaus Müller

doi:10.1038/srep44055

Abstract

Priming improves an organism's performance upon a future stress. To test whether cold priming supports protection in spring and how it is affected by cold acclimation, we compared seven Arabidopsis accessions with different cold acclimation potentials in the field and in the greenhouse for growth, photosynthetic performance and reproductive fitness in March and May after a 14 day long cold-pretreatment at 4 °C. In the plants transferred to the field in May, the effect of the cold pretreatment on the seed yield correlated with the cold acclimation potential of the accessions. In the March transferred plants, the reproductive fitness was most supported by the cold pretreatment in the accessions with the weakest cold acclimation potential. The fitness effect was linked to long-term effects of the cold pretreatment on photosystem II activity stabilization and leaf blade expansion. The study demonstrated that cold priming stronger impacts on plant fitness than cold acclimation in spring in accessions with intermediate and low cold acclimation potential.

Highlights

IntroductionTo test whether cold priming supports protection in spring and how it is affected by cold acclimation, we compared seven Arabidopsis accessions with different cold acclimation potentials in the field and in the greenhouse for growth, photosynthetic performance and reproductive fitness in March and May after a 14 day long coldpretreatment at 4 °C
Priming improves an organism's performance upon a future stress
The plants were grown in randomized patterns with not cold-treated 4 week old plants, which were indistinguishable from cold-treated ones in leaf number, weight and pigmentation[10]

Summary

Introduction

To test whether cold priming supports protection in spring and how it is affected by cold acclimation, we compared seven Arabidopsis accessions with different cold acclimation potentials in the field and in the greenhouse for growth, photosynthetic performance and reproductive fitness in March and May after a 14 day long coldpretreatment at 4 °C. In the March transferred plants, the reproductive fitness was most supported by the cold pretreatment in the accessions with the weakest cold acclimation potential. Arabidopsis activates cold acclimation in response to persisting or oscillating cold stress[6,7]. It is quickly lost, when the temperatures increase[8,9]. The environmental parameters strongly fluctuate and differentially influence the signaling hubs, which regulate plant development[27]

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Discussion

Conclusion