Abstract
Low temperature is one of the most important environmental stresses constraining plant development and distribution. Plants have evolved complex adaptive mechanisms to face and survive freezing temperatures. Different signaling pathways regulating plant response to cold have been described, and some of them are mediated by hormones. Recently, we reported that ethylene (ET) acts as a positive regulator of plant freezing tolerance through the activation of cold-induced gene expression, including the CBF-regulon. Here, we present data demonstrating that the Arabidopsis ET overproducer mutant eto1-3 has enhanced freezing tolerance. Moreover, we also show that this mutant exhibits increased accumulation of CBF1, 2 and 3 transcripts, which should account for its tolerant phenotype. All these results constitute new genetic evidence supporting an important role for ET in plant response to low temperature by mediating the CBF-dependent signaling pathway.
Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest
No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.
Funding
This work was supported by grants BIO2010-17545 and BIO2013-47788-R from the Spanish Secretary of Research, Development and Innovation. R. Catalá is supported by a JAE-DOC contract from the CSIC.