Braving the attitude of altitude: Caragana jubata at work in cold desert of Himalaya

Abstract

The present work was conducted to understand the basis of adaptation in Caragana jubata in its niche environment at high altitude cold desert of Himalaya. Molecular data showed predominance of genes encoding chaperones and those involved in growth and development at low temperature (LT), a major cue operative at high altitude. Importantly, these genes expressed in C. jubata in its natural habitat. Their homologues in Arabidopsis thaliana, Oryza sativa, and Glycine max did not exhibit similar trend of gene expression at LT. Constitutive expression and a quick up-regulation of the above genes suggested the ability of C. jubata to adjust its cellular machinery to maintain growth and development in its niche. This was reflected in LT50 (the temperature at which 50% injury occurred) and LT mediated photosynthetic acclimatory response. Such molecular and physiological plasticity enables C. jubata to thrive in the high altitude cold desert of Himalayas.

Salinity tolerance loci revealed in rice using high-throughput non-invasive phenotyping

“…Another QTL is also found on chromosome 11 (at 2.78–2.79 Mb), between two candidate genes, Os11g05930 (encoding a response regulator receiver domain-containing protein) and Os11g05935 (encoding a mucin-type membrane protein involved in signal transduction). Note that Os11g05930 is the orthologue to HvPRR59 in barley, which has been associated with its early flowering time2930, while Os11g05935 has an orthologue in Caragana jubata 31, which was found to respond to cold stress. These two salinity tolerance loci are the first evidence of this type of loci on chromosome 11 (ref.…”

Caragana jubata (Pall.) Poir. (Fabaceae), distribution mapping of rare relict species

“…For georeferencing detec tion, we used the Internet services Google Earth, as well as "Yandex maps". Some information about species loca tions were taken from such literary sources as: "Introduc tion to florae of China and Mongolia" (Komarov 1947), "Flora of the southern part of the Krasnoyarsk Territory" (Cherepnin 1963), "Woody plants of Siberia" (Koropach inskii 1983), "Features and genesis of the flora of Siberia (Baikal and Transbaikalia)" (Malyshev & Peshkova 1984), "Ranges of trees and shrubs of the USSR" (Sokolov et al 1986), "Unique flora objects of Central Siberia: diversity, spatial and temporal distribution, features and prospects of protection" (Boikov 2005), "Braving the attitude of alti tude: Caragana jubata at work in cold desert of Himalaya" (Bhardwaj et al 2013), "Himalayan uplift shaped biomes in Miocene temperate Asia: evidence from leguminous Cara gana" (Zhang et al 2016), et al (Krylov 1933, Boikov 1999, Chepinoga 2009, Baritskaya 2010, Verhozina 2013, Chin dyaeva & Kiseleva 2016. In total, 68 species' occurrences were obtained from Russian and foreign articles.…”

Copper, zinc superoxide dismutase from Caragana jubata : A thermostable enzyme that functions under a broad pH and temperature window

“…The plants growing at the high altitudes of the Himalayas are exposed to various environmental conditions and are expected to experience oxidative stress. 25 Caragana jubata (Pall.) Poir is a perennial shrub of family Fabaceae that grows under extreme environmental conditions in the Kibber-Gete area, the Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh, India.…”

“…C. jubata is subject to extreme diurnal variations in temperature, which ranges from about 5 to 25°C during the daytime and 2 to −10°C at night. 25 Moreover, the photosynthetically active radiations during the day can be as high as 2500 μE m −2 s −1 . The drought-like situation due to low precipitation together with cryic-mesic soil temperature regimes (the mean winter soil temperature declines below freezing point) forms a thermal pan for plant growth.…”