Abstract
Background:
The relationship between cold acclimation and vernalization has been a hanging debate. Cold-acclimation is a cold-responding process that enable plants adapt to cold temperature in a rapid time. While vernalization is that plants flower by quantitative accumulation of cold exposure. 4℃ is both the acclimation temperature and vernalization temperature. We conducted transcriptomic analyses during 42 days 4℃ vernalization process to explore the whole process of transcriptional dynamics during vernalization and responding situation of short-term cold exposure in Arabidopsis
Results:
Brassinosteroid was found as the most sensitive hormone in response to cold shock. Phosphorylation played an important role in long-term temperature drop by time-course analysis. Independency between cold-acclimation and vernalization was confirmed based on time-lag initiation of these two pathways. Cold-acclimation suppress flowering after vernalization initiation by continuously blocking photoperiod and gibberellin (GA) pathway. FLM inhibited flowering in a FLM-β-upregulation and FLM-δ-independent way. Autonomous and aging pathway positively responded but did little contribution to flowering. Alternative splicing mechanism mediated cold responding through the whole vernalization process.
Conclusion
Transcriptomic analysis revealed that Cold-acclimation and vernalization are independent. Cold as winter signal either indirectly suppress flowering through cold-acclimation involved photoperiod and GA pathways or directly suppress flowering through thermosensory pathway. Additionally, alternative splicing mediation worked through the whole vernalization process.
Transcriptomic analysis of grapevine in response to ABA application reveals its diverse regulations during cold acclimation and deacclimation
