Melatonin and Cold Tolerance in Plants

Cold is one of the most adverse environmental factors affecting plant growth and development. Since melatonin was first detected in plants in 1995, more and more studies have reported the mechanisms by which melatonin enhances the cold resistance of plants. In this chapter, we comprehensively summarized the mechanism of melatonin-induced enhancement of plant cold tolerance covering the synthesis and metabolism of melatonin, the crosstalk between melatonin and other small signal molecules, and the impact of melatonin on the expression levels of cold-responsive genes under cold stress. This review advances our current understanding of the mechanism of melatonin in the circumstance of plant response to cold stress.