Glycerolipid remodeling, a dynamic mechanism for plant
subsistence
under cold stress, has been posited to affect the biophysical properties
of cell membranes. In barley roots, remodeling has been observed to
take place upon exposure to chilling stress and to be partially reverted
during stress relief. In this study, we explored the biophysical characteristics
of membranes formed with lipids extracted from barley roots subjected
to chilling stress, or during a subsequent short- or long-term recovery.
Our aim was to determine to what extent barley roots were able to
offset the adverse effects of temperature on their cell membranes.
For this purpose, we analyzed the response of the probe Laurdan inserted
in bilayers of different extracts, the zeta potential of liposomes,
and the behavior of Langmuir monolayers upon compression. We found
important changes in the order of water molecules, which is in agreement
with the changes in the unsaturation index of lipids due to remodeling.
Regarding Langmuir monolayers, we found that films from all the extracts
showed a reorganization at a surface pressure that depends on temperature.
This reorganization occurred with an increase in entropy for extracts
from control plants and without entropy changes for extracts from
acclimated plants. In summary, some membrane properties were recovered
after the stress, while others were not, suggesting that the membrane
biophysical properties play a role in the mechanism of plant acclimation
to chilling. These findings contribute to our understanding of the
impact of lipid remodeling on biophysical modifications in plant roots.