A prominent role for the CBF cold response pathway in configuring the low-temperature metabolome of Arabidopsis
- *Michigan State University-Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory and §Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824; and ‡Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, 14424 Potsdam, Germany
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Contributed by Michael F. Thomashow, August 17, 2004
Abstract
The Arabidopsis CBF cold response pathway has a central role in cold acclimation, the process whereby plants increase in freezing tolerance in response to low nonfreezing temperatures. Here we examined the changes that occur in the Arabidopsis metabolome in response to low temperature and assessed the role of the CBF cold response pathway in bringing about these modifications. Of 434 metabolites monitored by GC-time-of-flight MS, 325 (75%) were found to increase in Arabidopsis Wassilewskija-2 (Ws-2) plants in response to low temperature. Of these 325 metabolites, 256 (79%) also increased in nonacclimated Ws-2 plants in response to overexpression of C-repeat/dehydration responsive element-binding factor (CBF)3. Extensive cold-induced changes also occurred in the metabolome of Arabidopsis Cape Verde Islands-1 (Cvi-1) plants, which were found to be less freezing tolerant than Ws-2 plants. However, low-temperature-induced expression of CBF1, CBF2, CBF3, and CBF-targeted genes was much lower in Cvi-1 than in Ws-2 plants, and the low-temperature metabolome of Cvi-1 plants was depleted in metabolites affected by CBF3 overexpression. Taken together, the results indicate that the metabolome of Arabidopsis is extensively reconfigured in response to low temperature, and that the CBF cold response pathway has a prominent role in this process.
Footnotes
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↵ ¶ To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: thomash6{at}msu.edu.
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↵ † Present address: U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Station, Natural Products Utilization Research Unit, University, MS 38677.
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Author contributions: M.F.T., D.C., and O.F. designed the research; D.C. and O.F. performed the research; D.C., S.F., O.F., and M.F.T. analyzed the data; and D.C., S.F., O.F., and M.F.T. wrote the paper.
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Abbreviations: CRT, C-repeat; DRE, dehydration responsive element; CBF, CRT/DRE-binding factor; Cvi-1, Cape Verde Islands-1; Ws-2, Wassilewskija-2.
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See Commentary on page 14996.
- Copyright © 2004, The National Academy of Sciences
