Cold Acclimation in Arabidopsis thaliana

在极端环境条件下，如低温和高温， 干旱和高盐度严重限制了 植物的分布，并占很大一部分的短缺， 潜在产量和实际产量之间的差距 然而，许多植物 进化出的机制使它们能够适应并生存 不同程度、不同形式的环境“压力”。《The Long 主要研究者的长期研究兴趣是了解 在分子和细胞水平上， 以适应寒冷和冰冻的温度。 他最近 确定拟南芥，像许多其他植物一样， 当暴露在低的非冻结温度下时， 基因表达的变化发生在这种冷驯化过程中。 他现在的目标是确定冷调节的功能， （“cor”）基因。 他的具体目标包括： COR多肽是否具有冷冻保护作用 Adrabidopsis cor突变体的构建与分析; 确定COR基因的细胞和亚细胞位置 产物;以及确定拟南芥cor基因是否是高表达的。 保存在植物中。 至少，这些研究应该提供 对分子和生理变化的进一步了解， 在低温下发生在植物中。 它们也有潜力 产生了可以用来改善寒冷和冰冻的基因 重要农艺植物的耐受性。

Extremes in environmental conditions such as low and high temperature, drought, and high salinity, severely limit the geographical distribution of plants and account in large part for the shortfalls between potential and actual crop yields. Many plants, however, have evolved mechanisms that enable them to acclimate to and survive to varying degrees, different forms of environmental "stress." The long term research interest of the Principal Investigator is to understand at a molecular and cellular level the adaptive responses that plants make to survive cold and freezing temperatures. He has recently established that Arabidopsis, like many other plants, becomes more frost tolerant when exposed to low nonfreezing temperatures and that changes in gene expression occur during this cold acclimation process. His goal now is to determine the functions of the cold-regulated ("cor") genes. His specific aims include: the isolation and sequencing of cor genes; determining whether COR polypeptides have cryoprotective effects; the construction and analysis of Adrabidopsis cor mutants; determining the cellular and subcellular location of the COR gene products; and determining whether Arabidopsis cor genes are highly conserved among plants. At a minimum, these studies should provide additional insight into the molecular and physiological changes that occur in plants at low temperature. They also have the potential of yielding genes that could be used to improve the cold and freezing tolerance of agronomically important plants.