12. Role of Intracellular Compatible Solutes in Cold Acclimation in Plants(the 47th Annual Meeting)

Abstract

To determine the contribution of various compatible solutes to an increase in freezing tolerance in detail, accumulation of sugars, proline and glycine betaine in leaves of three wheat cultivars was characterized and compared during cold acclimation. We have found that the concentration of sugars was much greater than that of proline or glycine betaine after cold acclimation and accumulation of proline occurred earlier than that of glycine betaine during the course of cold acclimation. There was a positive relationship between the extent of freezing tolerance and the sum of the concentration of sugars, proline and glycine betaine after cold acclimation, while the contribution of these three compatible solutes to the increased osmolality in leaves during cold acclimation seemed not to be correlated with freezing tolerance. These results suggest that the accumulation of compatible solutes has multiple roles in increasing the freezing tolerance in plants.