PLANT ADAPTATION TO LOW-TEMPERATURE STRESS

Tolerance to freezing is the most common strategy for plants to surviv e freezing stress. The ability to increase freezing tolerance in respo nse to low nonfreezing temperatures, i.e. cold acclimation, is essenti al for plants to overwinter in temperate habitats. Cold acclimation is thought to be governed by a complex of genes, inducible by low temper atures, and involves a number of changes that could protect plant cell s against freezing stress. Synthesis of the products of cold-regulated genes leads to the final increase in freezing resistance. Because of the complexity of the changes required to achieve maximal cold hardine ss, many genes may be involved in the overall process of cold acclimat ion.