Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY
Volume 102, Issue 3, Pages 439-448Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.3732/ajb.1400373
Keywords
Arabidopsis kamchatica; Brassicaceae; climate change; cold acclimation; cold tolerance; electrolyte leakage; freeze avoidance; freeze tolerance; genetic variation; LT50; supercooling
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Funding
- Alaska Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research
- National Science Foundation
- State of Alaska, USA [EPS-0701898]
- Cooperative Institute for Arctic Research International Polar Year Student Traineeship through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [NA17RJ1224]
- University of Alaska Fairbanks Center for Global Change Student Award - International Arctic Research Center through the National Science Foundation [ARC-0327664]
- Alaska IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence, National Institutes of Health [5P20RR016466]
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Premise of the study: Cold tolerance is a critically important factor determining how plants will be influenced by climate change, including changes in snowcover and extreme weather events. Although a great deal is known about cold tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana, it is not highly cold tolerant. This study examined cold tolerance and its genetic diversity in an herbaceous subarctic relative, Arabidopsis kamchatica, which generally occurs in much colder climates. Methods: Thermal analysis and electrolyte leakage were used to estimate supercooling points and lethal temperatures (LT50) in cold-acclimated and nonacclimated families from three populations of A. kamchatica. Key results: Arabidopsis kamchatica was highly cold tolerant, with a mean LT 50 of -10.8 degrees C when actively growing, and -21.8 degrees C when cold acclimated. It also was able to supercool to very low temperatures. Surprisingly, actively growing plants supercooled more than acclimated plants (-14.7 vs. -12.7 degrees C). There was significant genetic variation for cold tolerance both within and among populations. However, both cold tolerance and genetic diversity were highest in the midlatitude population rather than in the far north, indicating that adaptations to climate change are most likely to arise in the center of the species range rather than at the edges. Conclusions: Arabidopsis kamchatica is highly cold tolerant throughout its range. It is far more freeze tolerant than A. thaliana, and supercooled to lower temperatures, suggesting that A. kamchatica provides a valuable complement to A. thaliana for cold tolerance research.
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