Plant freezing tolerance and genes express in cold acclimation: a review
植物抗寒及其基因表达研究进展

In plants, freezing tolerance increases upon exposure to low temperatures, which is known as cold acclimation. Cold acclimation in plants is a complex process involving physiological, biochemical and energetic changes. These include membrane stabilization, the accumulation of soluble proteins, and small penetrable molecules such as proline, sugars and etc. Some of these changes are essential for plants to survive freezing temperature, whereas the others are not. Recent advances in understanding the physiological and biochemical changes upon freezing injury and exposure to low temperature, characterization and functions of low-temperature-induced genes, and the mechanisms including gene regulation by low temperature and signal transduction are reviewed.By differential-screening cDNA library, many genes that are induced by low temperature to improve freezing tolerance in plants have been identified and characterized, such as dehydrins, COR genes and CBF1 factor. The sensing, transduction and the regulation of cold signals are the key stages in cold acclimation. There are also come cross-talks between cold acclimation and drought stress in signal transduction, which makes it a potential application to use ABA to increase plant freezing tolerance. In near future, plant productivity may be increased by improving freezing tolerance.