Chilling and Freezing Stresses in Plants: Cellular Responses and Molecular Strategies for Adaptation

Abstract

Cold affects agronomic yield and product quality. The mechanisms by which plants translate cold perception into specific gene expression are not yet completely understood; the available evidence is not yet arranged into an overall coherent picture. Nevertheless: 1) signal transduction pathways are being elucidated; 2) evidence is accumulating on control of cold-related gene expression, with the identification of cis-and trans-acting elements; 3) a large number of gene products, putatively involved in cold tolerance, have been characterised; 4) transgenic plants are contributing to the understanding of the function of specific genes. These efforts are of substantial interest. Success in the production of crop varieties with improved cold tolerance will have great beneficial economic and ecological impact, meeting the philosophy of a sustainable (intensive versus extensive) agriculture. This chapter discusses recent progress in knowledge on the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying cold tolerance in higher plants.

Differential Effects of Cold Stress on the Antioxidant Response of Mycorrhizal and Non-Mycorrhizal Jatropha curcas (L.) Plants

“…Plant performance is reduced by cold stress, one of the most serious environmental abiotic stresses that plants have to cope with throughout their life cycle. Cold stress limits the agronomic yield by reducing the plant growth with negative and unforeseeable effects on biomass accumulation (Bracale & Coraggio, 2003). In J. curcas seedlings, low temperature reduces leaf chlorophyll content, unsaturated fatty acid content and produces increase in permeability of cell membranes (Tong et al, 2005), indicating that this species is sensitive to cold stress.…”

Infrared spectroscopy of leaf traits: Detecting plant stress and identifying plant species

“…An increase in leaf thickness of stressed plants is reported as one of the main physical strategies to cope with cold conditions in previous studies (Bracale and Coragio 2003;McCree and Davis 1974). Plants growing in high altitude areas change to thicker and more compact leaves to mitigate cold stress but also to avoid damage from increasing ultraviolet-B radiation (Fitter and Hay 2002;Wang et al 2008).…”

“…A factorial experiment was established with two factors: temperature stress and water stress (Figure 4.1). Temperature stress was defined as low or chilling temperatures between 1-10 degrees Celsius, which can have a negative impact on the metabolism of plants, especially during the growing season (Bracale and Coragio 2003;Jouyban et al 2013;Nilsen 1987). This treatment had 2 groups: a) ambient warm temperature (3 months outdoors in summer and 3 months warmed in the greenhouse in autumn; mean temperature: 19.1°C), and b) cold temperatures (3 months of inside a cooled greenhouse in summer, and 3 months of low temperatures outdoors in autumn; mean temperature: 9.9°C).…”

“…Leaf area is an indicator of productivity that changes under suboptimal conditions (Bracale and Coragio 2003;McCree and Davis 1974). At constant cold temperatures, leaves tend to be smaller, more compact and thicker to reduce evapotranspiration (Bracale and Coragio 2003;McCree and Davis 1974).…”

“…Under stress cell size and cell wall thickness tend to increase (e.g. Huner et al 1981;Stefanowska et al 1999), production of cuticle lipids and waxes increases resulting in thicker cuticles and reduced evapotranspiration (Cameron et al 2006;Fitter and Hay 2002;Kosma et al 2009;Riederer and Schreiber 2001;Stefanowska et al 1999;Wang et al 2011) and mesophyll and palisade layers grow thicker causing leaf thickness to increase (Bracale and Coragio 2003;Fitter and Hay 2002;Huner et al 1981;Nautiyal et al 1994). Readjustments in the outer layers lead to smaller stomatal sizes and higher stomatal densities to cope with long-term suboptimal temperatures or drier environments (Nautiyal et al 1994).…”