DREB1A/CBF3 and DREB2A are transcription factors that specifically interact with a cis-acting dehydration-responsive element (DRE), which is involved in cold- and dehydration-responsive gene expression in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Overexpression of DREB1A improves stress tolerance to both freezing and dehydration in transgenic plants. In contrast, overexpression of an active form of D...

The stress hormone corticosterone acts via two receptor types in the brain: the mineralocorticoid (MR) and the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). Both receptors are involved in processing of stressful events. A disbalance of MR:GR functions is thought to promote stress-related disorders. Here we studied the effect of stress on emotional and cognitive behaviors in mice with forebrain-specific inactiv...

‘Stevens’ cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait.) terminal bud freezing stress resistance was assessed by nonlinear regression utilizing relative scoring of the post-thaw bud growth and development based on defi ned bud stages 2 weeks following controlled freezing tests. Bud stages tested were chosen based on a phenology profi le from each sampling date throughout the spring season. Previous yea...

The centrifuge method for measuring the resistance of xylem to cavitation by water stress was modified to also account for any additional cavitation that might occur from a freeze-thaw cycle. A strong correlation was found between cavitation by freezing and mean conduit diameter. On the one extreme, a tracheid-bearing conifer and diffuse-porous angiosperms with small-diameter vessels (mean diam...

During winter, trees have to cope with harsh conditions, including extreme freeze-thaw stress. This study focused on ice nucleation and propagation, related water shifts and xylem cavitation, as well as cell damage and was based on in situ monitoring of xylem (thermocouples) and surface temperatures (infrared imaging), ultrasonic emissions, and dendrometer analysis. Field experiments during lat...

Prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata), a perennial C4 grass native to the North American prairie, has several distinctive characteristics that potentially make it a model crop for production in stressful environments. However, little is known about the transcriptome dynamics of prairie cordgrass despite its unique freezing stress tolerance. Therefore, the purpose of this work was to explore th...

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.

Background: Cryopreservation has adverse effect on human spermatozoa via exposure to physical and chemical stress that may lead to alter in reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. During sperm preparation or cryopreservation, centrifugation as a physical stress may effect on sperm quality probably with stress oxidative production and membrane damage. Therefore the aim of this study was to evaluat...

in order to evaluate the effect of freezing stress on safflower (carthamus tinctorius l.) genotypes, an experiment was conducted in faculty of agriculture, ferdowsi university of mashhad, iran. treatments included 6 genotypes (k.w.3, k.w.6, k.w.16, zarghan 279, line 295 and il-111) and freezing temperatures (0, -4, -8, -12, -16 and -20 ˚c). the trial was arranged as factorial based on completel...

Exposure of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) to various combinations of flooding and freezing stresses induces much greater damage than the individual stresses. Cold-hardened plants flooded for 1 week or exposed to -6 degrees C for 1 week show 100% survival, while survival of plants exposed to both stresses simultaneously is reduced by 20 to 30%, and cold hardiness decreases by several degre...