Biochemical alterations of cellular membranes in chilling-sensitive mung bean (Vigna radiata [L.] Wilczek) hypocotyls were invesfigated with reference to chilling injury. Reversible decreases in activities of tonoplast H+-ATPase and in vivo respiration became manifest within 24 hours of chilling when tissues suffered no permanent injury as assessed by electrolyte leakage and regrowth capacity. These changes were found to be the earliest cellular responses to chilling. A density-shift on a sucrose density gradient was observed in Golgi membranes early in the chilling treatment, suggesting that Golgi function and/or membrane biogenesis via the Golgi may have been altered upon chilling. After chilling more than 2 days, irreversible changes were generally produced in cellular membranes including the plasma membrane, endoplasmic reticulum, and mitochondria. Respiratory functions remained intact in mitochondria isolated from tissues prechilled for 24 hours, but were impaired after prechilling for 3 days. Given the important role of the tonoplast H+-ATPase in the active transport of ions and metabolites, the early decline in the tonoplast H+-ATPase activity may give rise to an alteration of the cytoplasmic environment and, consequently, trigger a series of degenerative reactions in the cells. uncertainty as to how the chill-induced physical changes in those membranes can be sequentially transduced into cell injury. Furthermore, there seems to be no specific reason to assume that those organelles are exclusive cellular sites for sensing low temperatures.In our earlier studies, using extremely chill-sensitive cultured cells (27), degeneration ofcell structures occurred within a short period of chilling, i.e., 6 to 12 h at 0°C. Partial dilation and microvesiculation of RER and other deteriorative changes were followed by marked morphological changes in the intramembranous particles on the tonoplast fracture faces. Furthermore, the chilled cells retained the capacity to grow after transfer to a warm temperature until the onset of the structural alteration in the tonoplast. It is assumed that chillinduced structural and functional deterioration in the tonoplasts is also involved in the earliest cellular events triggered by chilling. In the present study, we have attempted to analyze the biochemical changes in various cellular membranes, which take place during chilling in the cells in chill-sensitive mung bean seedlings. Special attention was paid to determining the earliest changes manifested in intact cells immediately upon chilling and to distinguish them from the secondarily transduced ones.Although a number of studies have been carried out to elucidate the mechanisms involved in chilling injury in plants, many problems remain to be explained. For a better understanding of the mechanisms, it is important to identify the cellular site(s) and the physical features of the primary reaction(s) sensing low temperatures and to determine the physiological transducers transmitted from the low temperature sensing reaction...