Cold temperatures trigger the ICE1-CBF-COR transcriptional cascade in plants, which reprograms gene expression to increase freezing tolerance. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Ding et al. (2015) report that cold stress activates the protein kinase OST1 to phosphorylate and thereby stabilize and stimulate ICE1. This enhances plant tolerance to freezing temperatures.

In plants, the expression of 14-3-3 genes reacts to various adverse environmental conditions, including cold, high salt, and drought. Although these results suggest that 14-3-3 proteins have the potential to regulate plant responses to abiotic stresses, their role in such responses remains poorly understood. Previously, we showed that the RARE COLD INDUCIBLE 1A (RCI1A) gene encodes the 14-3-3 p...

A population of brown adipocytes emerges in white fat depots at weaning. The function of these adipocytes is not known, but at this late stage of development it is unlikely they are essential for body temperature regulation experienced during the cold stress at birth. A dietary protocol of under-nutrition during the perinatal period, causing hypoinsulinemia, hypoleptinemia and hypoglycemia, led...

The wild species Solanum habrochaites is more cold tolerant than the cultivated tomato (S. lycopersicum). To explore the mechanisms underlying cold tolerance of S. habrochaites, seedlings of S. habrochaites LA1777 introgression lines (ILs), as well as the two parents, were evaluated under low temperature (4°C). The IL LA3969 and its donor parent LA1777 were found to be more cold tolerant than t...

Mitogen-activated protein kinase cascades are important signaling modules that convert environmental stimuli into cellular responses. We show that MPK3, MPK4, and MPK6 are rapidly activated after cold treatment. The mpk3 and mpk6 mutants display increased expression of CBF genes and enhanced freezing tolerance, whereas constitutive activation of the MKK4/5-MPK3/6 cascade in plants causes reduce...

screening of native cultivars and understanding of the mechanisms involved in cold hardiness in grapevines is needed to match cultivars appropriately with growing sites and aid in breeding and selecting cultivars with improved freezing tolerance. in this study cold hardiness of fifteen grapevine (vitis vinifera l.) cultivars were evaluated using tetrazolium stain test and post freezing budbreak...

vicia sativa l., an annual winter growing leguminous plant, is a valuable source of protein and minerals for cattle. drought is one of the key stress factors that influence plant growth and development. in order to investigate common vetch physiological and molecular responses under normal irrigation (n) and two levels of drought stress [s1= 30% and s2= 10% field capacity (fc)], a greenhouse exp...

To cope with environmental stresses, plants have developed various stress tolerance mechanisms that involve the induction of many stress responsive genes through stress-specific and common signaling pathways. Stress-specific/common transcription factors, rather than general basal factors, were considered important in this stress tolerance. The Arabidopsis STABILIZED1 (STA1) gene encodes a putat...

The circadian clock synchronizes biological processes to daily cycles of light and temperature. Clock components, including CIRCADIAN CLOCK-ASSOCIATED1 (CCA1), are also associated with cold acclimation. However, it is unknown how CCA1 activity is modulated in coordinating circadian rhythms and cold acclimation. Here, we report that self-regulation of Arabidopsis thaliana CCA1 activity by a spli...