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Responses of the Plasma Membrane to Cold Acclimation and Freezing Stress

  • Chapter
The Plant Plasma Membrane

Abstract

Among various environmental stresses, low temperature is one of the most important factors limiting the productivity and distribution of plants. An untimely frost or extremely cold winter in a major production area causes significant losses in productivity of many crop plants. An understanding of the molecular mechanisms of freezing injury and cold acclimation of plants may provide a basis for developing new crops and better production systems. As early as 1912, as 1912, it was suggested that freezing injury of cells is due to a freeze-induced removal of water from the protoplasmic surface, resulting in coagulation or stiffening of the protoplasmic surface (Maximov 1912). This hypothesis was further developed by Levitt and Scarth (1936a,b), Siminovitch and Scarth (1938), Levitt and Siminovitch (1940), Scarth et al. (1940), Scarth (1941,1944), Siminovitch and Levitt (1941), and Levitt (1972). Using light microscopy, they observed that the properties of the protoplasmic surface changed in parallel with the development of freezing tolerance. The focus was then shifted to the relationship between biochemical changes in cellular membranes, especially changes in proteins and lipids, and freezing tolerance in a wide variety of plants. However, these studies did not lead to any clear conclusion concerning the role of the plasma membrane in the development of freezing tolerance, because the results were mostly concerned with total cellular membranes, and not specifically with the plasma membrane.

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Abbreviations

DCCD:

N,N’-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide

DPH:

l,6-diphenyl-l,3,5-hexatriene

DSC:

differential scanning calorimetry

ESR:

electron spin resonance

IMP:

intramembranous protein particle(s):

TSAI:

tolerable surface area increment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

    S. Yoshida

  2. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Koube University, Koube, Japan

    M. Uemura

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  1. S. Yoshida
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  2. M. Uemura
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Biochemistry, University of Lund, Box 7007, S-220 07, Lund, Sweden

    Christer Larsson

  2. Department of Plant Physiology, University of Lund, Box 7007, S-220 07, Lund, Sweden

    Ian M. Møller

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© 1989 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Yoshida, S., Uemura, M. (1989). Responses of the Plasma Membrane to Cold Acclimation and Freezing Stress. In: Larsson, C., Møller, I.M. (eds) The Plant Plasma Membrane. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74522-5_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74522-5_13

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