In vitro cold induction revealed temporal transcriptional response of tea plant (Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze)
摘要
Low temperature stress is one of the major factors limiting stable production of many crops. There is a great progress in the study of genetic regulation of cold response in different annual crops. However, the responses of evergreen woody crops are still poorly investigated. Differences in molecular mechanisms between plant responses to short-term or long-term cold remain unclear. The aim of this study was to compare the short-term and long-term cold responses of tea microshoots in vitro, which were grown without root system. The results showed that both short-term and long-term cold stress induced enrichment of the following pathways: photosynthesis, photoperiodism, day length, flowering, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, MAPK kinase activity, lipid metabolism. However, most of the genes related to the spliceosome and endocytosis were upregulated only under long-term cold. The key DEGs related to these processes (dnaJ and subtilisin-like proteases) are candidates for further characterization. These results further clarify the tissue-specific molecular responses and difference between the short-term and long-term cold responses in evergreen woody crops.