Project description:Earlier findings indicated that light plays a critical role in the development of frost tolerance in winter cereals. However, the exact mechanism is still poorly understood. In the present work the effects of light during the cold acclimation period were studied in chilling-sensitive maize plants. The results show that although exposure to relatively high light intensities during cold acclimation at 15 °C causes various stress symptoms, it enhances the effectiveness of acclimation to chilling conditions (5 °C in the light). Interestingly, certain stress responses were light-dependent not only in the leaves, but also in the roots. A microarray study was also conducted to achieve a better understanding of the interaction of low temperature and light intensity during the cold hardening period. Numerous genes significantly differentially expressed were observed in almost all assimilation and metabolic pathways. Acclimation at moderately low temperature and low light intensity reduced the level of soluble sugars, while chilling increased it. Greater accumulation during hardening was detected at relatively high light intensity. It seems that the photoinhibition induced by low temperature is a necessary evil for cold acclimation processes in plants.
Project description:Purpose: The goal is to investigate how to enhance the adaptability of deep-sea bacterium Shewanella piezotolerans WP3 to low temperature and high pressure by experimental evolution with H2O2 stress
Project description:Temperature influences the structural and functional properties of cellular components, necessitating stress responses to restore homeostasis following temperature shift. The heat shock circuitry is well understood, but that controlling the E. coli cold-shock adaptation program is not. We found that during the growth arrest phase (acclimation) that follows shift to low temperature, protein synthesis increases and ORF-wide mRNA secondary structure decreases. We identified two components of an mRNA surveillance system that enable recovery of translation during acclimation: RNase R assures appropriate mRNA degradation and the Csps dynamically adjust mRNA secondary structure to globally modulate protein expression level. Csps also remodel their own mRNAs to tune their expression to cellular need. Thus, appropriate translation is dynamically adjusted with Csp control. The universality of Csps in bacteria suggests broad utilization of this control mechanism.
Project description:Frost tolerance is the main component of winter-hardiness. To express this trait, plants have to sense low temperature, and respond by activating the process of cold acclimation. The molecular mechanisms of this acclimation have not been fully understood in the agronomically important group of forage grasses, including Lolium-Festuca species. Herein, the introgression forms of L. multiflorum/F. arundinacea distinct with respect to their frost tolerance, were used as models for the comprehensive, proteomic and physiological, research to recognize the crucial components of cold acclimation in forage grasses. The obtained results stressed the importance of photosynthetic performance under acclimation to low temperature. The stable level of photochemical processes after three weeks of cold acclimation in the introgression form with a higher level of frost tolerance, combined simultaneously with the stable level of CO2 assimilation after that period, despite decreased stomatal conductance, indicated the capacity for that form to acclimate its photosynthetic apparatus to low temperature. This phenomenon was driven by the Calvin cycle efficiency, associated with revealed here accumulation profiles and activities of chloroplastic aldolase. The capacity to acclimate the photosynthetic machinery to cold could be one of the most crucial components of forage grass metabolism to improve frost tolerance.
Project description:Two azide mutagenized lines Freeze Resistance (FR, 75% survival) and Freeze Susceptible (FS, 30% survival) were compared with and without 4°C ± 1.5 cold acclimation of crown tissue to identify genes responsible for the difference in freeze resistance. Keywords: Wheat cold acclimation, stress response, cold, low temperature