Cold-Regulated Genes of Arabidopsis Thaliana

In 1970, C. Weiser suggested that cold acclimation might involve changes in gene expression. Since, it has been demonstrated in a variety of plant species that changes in gene expression occur during the cold acclimation process. This chapter reviews what learned about the expression of Arabidopsis cor genes and the protein products that they encode. Given the evolutionary distance between Arabidopsis and wheat, the data suggest that cold-induced accumulation of transcripts encoding boiling-stable polypeptides may be highly conserved response in plants, at least among those that cold acclimate. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence analysis indicates that the cold-regulated gene represented by pLCT10, designated cor15, encodes a hydrophilic polypeptide of 14.7 kDa. DNA sequence analysis of pHH7.2 indicates that COR47 has amino acid sequence homology with certain late embryogenesis abundant proteins, polypeptides that accumulate late in embryogenesis. DNA sequence analysis of pHH29 indicates that it represents a cold-regulated gene, designated cor6.6 that encodes a 6.6 kDa polypeptide.