Abstract
We have identified by differential screening a novel Arabidopsis thaliana gene, called kin1, which is induced at +44 °C. The nucleotide sequences of both the genomic clone and the corresponding cDNA were determined. The deduced 6.5 kDa polypeptide has an unusual amino acid composition being rich in alanine, glycine and lysine. The gene belongs to a family of at least two genes. Northern blot analysis revealed that the level of kin1 mRNA is increased 20-fold in cold-treated plants. In addition to being expressed in cold, kin1 mRNAlso induced by water stress and the plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) which has been suggested to be a common mediator for osmotic stress responses and cold acclimation in plants. Sequence comparisons showed that the kin1 gene product has similarities to fish antifreeze proteins (AFPs).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bornman CH, Jansson E: Nicotiana tabacum callus studies. X. ABA increases resistance to cold damage. Physiol Plant 48: 491–493 (1980).
Chen HH, Li PH, Brenner ML: Involvement of abscisic acid in potato cold acclimation. Plant Physiol 71: 362–365 (1983).
Chen PM, Li PH, Burke MJ: Induction of frost-hardiness in stem cortical tissues of Cornus stolonifera Michx by water stress. I. Unfrozen water in cortical tissues and water status in plant and soil. Plant Physiol 59: 236–239 (1977).
Chen THH, Gusta LV: Abscisic acid-induced freezing resistance in cultured plant cells. Plant Physiol 73: 71–75 (1983).
Close TJ, Kortt AA, Chandler PM: A cDNA-based comparison of dehydration-induced proteins (dehydrins) in barley and corn. Plant Mol Biol 13: 95–108 (1989).
Daie J, Campbell WH: Response of tomato plants to stressfull temperatures. Increase in abscisic acid concentrations. Plant Physiol 67: 26–29 (1981).
Davies MJ, Mansfield T: The role of abscisic acid in drought avoidance. In: Addicot FT (eds) Abscisic Acid, pp. 237–267. Praeger, New York (1983).
Davies PL, Hough C, Scott GK, Ng N, White BN, Hew CC: Antifreeze protein genes of the winter flounder. J Biol Chem 259: 4241–4247 (1984).
Dellaporta SL, Wood J, Hicks JB: A plant DNA minipreparation: Version II. Plant Mol Biol Rep 1: 19–21 (1983).
Devereux J, Haeberli P, Smithies O: A comprehensive set of sequence analysis programs for the VAX. Nucl Acids Res 12: 387–395 (1984).
Gilmour SJ, Hajela RK, Thomashow MF: Cold acclimation in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Physiol 87: 745–750 (1988).
Goldstein J, Pollitt NS, Inoye M: Major cold shock protein of Escherichia coli. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 87: 283–287 (1990).
Goméz J, Sánchez-Martinez D, Stiefel V, Rigau J, Puigdomènech P, Pagès M: A gene induced by the plant hormone abscisic acid in response to water stress encodes a glycine-rich protein. Nature 334: 262–264 (1988).
Guy CL, Niemi KJ, Brambl R: Altered gene expression during cold acclimation of spinach. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 82: 3673–3677 (1985).
Henikoff S: Unidirectional digestion with exonuclease III creates targeted breakpoints for DNA sequencing. Gene 28: 351–359 (1984).
Hew CL, Scott GK, Davies PL: Molecular biology of antifreeze. In: Heller HC, Musacchia XJ, Wang LCH (eds) Living in the Cold: Physiological and Biochemical Adaptation, pp 177–123. Elsevier, New York (1986).
Hincha DK, Höfner R, Schwab KB, Heber U, Schmitt JM: Membrane rupture is the common cause of damage to chloroplast membranes in leaves injured by freezing or excessive wilting. Plant Physiol 83: 251–253 (1987).
Jones JDG, Duinsmuir P, Bedbrook J: High level expression of introduced chimeric genes in regenerated transformed plants. EMBO J 4: 2411–2418 (1985).
Joshi CP: An inspection of the domain between putative TATA box and translation start of 79 plant genes. Nucl Acids Res 15: 6643–6653 (1987).
Kurkela S, Franck M, Heino P, Lång V, Palva ET: Cold induced gene expression in Arabidopsis thaliana (L.). Plant Cell Reports 7: 495–498 (1988).
Levitt J: Responses of Plants to Environmental Stresses: Vol I. Academic Press, Orlando (1980).
Lin Y, Gross JK: Molecular cloning and characterization of winter flounder antifreeze cDNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 78: 2825–2829 (1981).
Lång V, Heino P, Palva ET: Low temperature acclimation and treatment with exogenous abscisic acid induce common polypeptides in Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. Theor Appl Genet 77: 729–734 (1989).
Maniatis T, Fritsch EF, Sambrook J: Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY (1982).
Mann S, Heywood BR: Antifreeze polypeptides come out of the cold. Nature 335: 502–503 (1988).
Melton DA, Krieg PA, Rebaghliati MR, Maniatis T, Zinn K, Green MR: Efficient in vitro synthesis of biologically active RNA and RNA hybridization probes from plasmids containing a bacteriophage SP6 promoter. Nucl Acids Res 12: 7035–7056 (1984).
Meza-Basso L, Alberdi M, Raynal M, Ferrero-Cadinanos M-L, Delseny M: Changes in protein synthesis in rapeseed (Brassica napus) seedlings during a low temperature treatment. Plant Physiol 82: 733–738 (1986).
Mohapatra SS, Poole RJ, Dhiodsa RS: Abscisic acidregulated gene expression in relation to freezing tolerance in alfalfa. Plant Physiol 87: 468–473 (1988).
Mohapatra SS, Poole RJ, Dhindsa RS: Changes in protein patterns and translatable messenger RNA populations during cold acclimation of alfalfa. Plant Physiol 84: 1172–1176 (1987).
Mundy J, Chua N-H: Abscisic acid and water-stress induce the expression of a novel rice gene. EMBO J 7: 2279–2286 (1988).
Norrander J, Kempe T, Messing J: Construction of improved M13 vectors using oligonucleotide directed mutagenesis. Gene 26: 101–106 (1983).
Orr W, Keller WA, Singh J: Induction of freezing tolerance in an embryogenic cell suspension culture of Brassica napus by abscisic acid at room temperature. J Plant Physiol 126: 23–32 (1986).
Pickett M, Scott G, Davies P, Wang N, Joshi S, Few C: Sequence of an antifreeze protein precursor. Eur J Biochem 143: 35–38 (1984).
Reaney MJT, Gusta LV: Factors influencing the induction of freezing tolerance by abscisic acid in cell suspension cultures of Bromus inermis Leyss and Medicago sativa L. Plant Physiol 83: 423–427 (1987).
Sakai A, Larcher W: Frost survival of plants: Responses and adaptations to freezing stress. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York (1987).
Scott GK, Davies PL, Shears MA, Fletcher GL: Variations in the alanine-rich antifreeze proteins of Pleuronectinae. Eur J Biochem 168: 629–633 (1987).
Siminovitch D, Cloutier Y: Twenty-four-hour induction of freezing and drought tolerance in plumules of winter rye seedlings by desiccation stress at room temperature and in the dark. Plant Physiol 69: 250–255 (1982).
Yang DSC, Sax M, Chakrabartty A, Hew CL: Crystal structure of an antifreeze polypeptide and its mechanistic implications. Nature 333: 232–237 (1988).
Yelenovsky G, Guy CL: Freezing tolerance of citrus, spinach, and petunia leaf tissue. Osmotic adjustment and sensitivity to freeze induced cellular dehydration. Plant Physiol 89: 444–451 (1989).
Zachariassen KE: Physiology of cold tolerance in insects. Physiol Rev 65: 799–833 (1985).
Zagurskay RJ, Baumeister K, Lomax N, Berman ML: Rapid and easy sequencing for large double-stranded DNA and supercoiled plasmid DNA. Gene Anal Tech 2: 89–94 (1985).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kurkela, S., Franck, M. Cloning and characterization of a cold-and ABA-inducible Arabidopsis gene. Plant Mol Biol 15, 137–144 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00017731
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00017731