M. Miquel et al., ARABIDOPSIS REQUIRES POLYUNSATURATED LIPIDS FOR LOW-TEMPERATURE SURVIVAL, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United Statesof America, 90(13), 1993, pp. 6208-6212
Mutants of Arabidopsis that contain reduced levels of polyunsaturated
fatty acids showed growth characteristics at 22-degrees-C that were ve
ry similar to wild type. By contrast, at 12-degrees-C, the mutants fai
led to undergo stem elongation during reproductive growth although the
y produced normal flowers and fertile seeds. After transfer to 6-degre
es-C, rosette leaves of the mutants gradually died, and the plants wer
e inviable. These different responses of the mutant plants at 12-degre
es-C and 6-degrees-C suggest that distinct functions may be affected a
t these two temperatures. The gradual development of symptoms at 6-deg
rees-C and other lines of evidence argue against a general collapse of
membrane integrity as the cause of the lethal phenotype. Rather, they
indicate that the decrease in polyunsaturated membrane lipids may ini
tially have relatively limited effects in disrupting cellular function
.