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Harden the chloroplast to protect the plant
Author(s) -
Crosatti Cristina,
Rizza Fulvia,
Badeck Franz W.,
Mazzucotelli Elisabetta,
Cattivelli Luigi
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
physiologia plantarum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.351
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1399-3054
pISSN - 0031-9317
DOI - 10.1111/j.1399-3054.2012.01689.x
Subject(s) - chloroplast , plastoquinone , photosynthesis , acclimatization , cold stress , freezing tolerance , biology , botany , adaptation (eye) , biophysics , biochemistry , gene , thylakoid , neuroscience
The chloroplast is the central switch of the plant's response to cold and light stress. The ability of many plant species to develop a cold tolerant phenotype is dependent on the presence of light and photosynthetic activity during low‐temperature growth. Light exposure at low temperature stimulates an over‐reduction of the plastoquinone pool as well as the accumulation of reactive oxygen species, and both metabolic conditions generate a retrograde signal controlling nuclear gene expression. At the same time the chloroplast is the target of many cold acclimation processes which are the results of the chloroplast‐nucleus cross‐talk. Often, the extent of cold acclimation of the chloroplast is tightly correlated with the overall plant tolerance to chilling and freezing temperatures, a finding suggesting that the chloroplast cold acclimation could be the rate limiting factor in the adaptation to low temperature.