cold-stress-tolerance
Cold-stress tolerance refers to the suite of molecular, physiological, and biochemical mechanisms that enable plants to survive and function under low-temperature conditions, including chilling and freezing stress. Understanding these mechanisms is critical for plant science because temperature extremes are a major limiting factor in crop productivity, geographic distribution, and seasonal adaptation. Research in this area aims to uncover the genetic and regulatory pathways that confer frost hardiness, informing efforts to breed more resilient crops capable of withstanding increasingly unpredictable climate conditions.
open_in_new WikipediaPubMed · 2026-05-06
Researchers discovered a gene in switchgrass called PvATAF2 that helps plant roots survive cold temperatures. When this gene was transferred to other crops like rice and Arabidopsis, those plants also grew better in cold soil, suggesting it could be used to engineer more cold-tolerant crops.
The PvATAF2 gene, when expressed in both Arabidopsis (a lab plant) and rice, significantly improved cold tolerance at the root zone during the seedling stage.
PvATAF2 activates a cytokinin hormone signaling pathway by binding to a specific DNA motif (CAA(A/T)T) and switching on a downstream regulator called PvRR44.
Two upstream regulators were identified: PvbHLH94-1K positively activates PvATAF2 transcription while PvLBD37-9K suppresses it, revealing a regulatory network controlling cold stress response.
