title: Snow-mold-induced apoplastic proteins in winter rye leaves lack antifreeze activity
abstract: During cold acclimation, winter rye (Secale cereale L.) plants secrete antifreeze proteins that are similar to pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins. In this experiment, the secretion of PR proteins was induced at warm temperatures by infection with pink snow mold (Microdochium nivale), a pathogen of overwintering cereals. A comparison of cold-induced and pathogen-induced proteins showed that PR proteins accumulated in the leaf apoplast to a greater level in response to cold. The PR proteins induced by cold and by snow mold were similar when separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and examined by immunoblotting. Both groups of PR proteins contained glucanase-like, chitinase-like, and thaumatin-like proteins, and both groups exhibited similar levels of glucanase and chitinase activities. However, only the PR proteins induced by cold exhibited antifreeze activity. Our findings suggest that the cold-induced PR proteins may be isoforms that function as antifreeze proteins to modify the growth of ice during freezing while also providing resistance to the growth of low-temperature pathogens in advance of infection. Both functions of the cold-induced PR proteins may improve the survival of overwintering cereals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology, FIN-20014 University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hiilovaara-Teijo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hannukkala
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Griffith
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pihakaski-Maunsbach