title: Regulation of gene expression by chromosome 5A during cold hardening in wheat.
abstract: Cold hardening is necessary to achieve the genetically determined maximum freezing tolerance and to reduce yield losses in winter cereals. The aim of the present study was to determine a set of genes with an important role in this process, by comparing of chromosome 5A substitution lines with different levels of freezing tolerance, since chromosome 5A is a major regulator of this trait. During 21 days of treatment at 2 degrees C, 303 genes were up-regulated, while 222 were down-regulated at most sampling points, and 156 at around half of them (out of the 10,297 unigenes studied). The freezing-tolerant substitution line exhibited 1.5 times as many differentially expressed genes than the sensitive one. The transcription of 78 genes (39 up-regulated) proved to be chromosome 5A-dependent. These genes encoded proteins involved in transcriptional regulation, defence processes and carbohydrate metabolism. Three of the chromosome 5A-related genes, coding for a cold-responsive, a Ca-binding and an embryo and meristem-related protein, were genetically mapped and characterized in further detail. The present experimental system was appropriate for the selection of chromosome 5A-related genes involved in short- and long-term cold acclimation in wheat. By modifying the expression of these genes it may be possible to improve freezing tolerance.
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Brunszvik u. 2, Martonvásár, 2462, Hungary.
authors.forename: Gábor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kocsy
authors.forename: Benedikt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Athmer
authors.forename: Dragan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Perovic
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Himmelbach
authors.forename: Attila
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Szucs
authors.forename: Ildikó
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Vashegyi
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schweizer
authors.forename: Gábor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Galiba
authors.forename: Nils
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Stein
mesh_terms: D032461:Chromosomes, Plant; D003080:Cold Temperature; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D006244:Hardness; D005810:Multigene Family; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014908:Triticum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology