QUEEN'S BIOLOGY MCIB SEMINAR SERIES
  • Home
  • Schedule
  • Contact

Seminar series of the Molecular, Cellular & Integrative Biology
research groups at Queen's University

Nov 1, 2018 // Developing under a changing environment: cold acclimation and vernalization in Brachypodium distachyon

11/1/2018

 
Picture
Boris Mayer, PhD Candidate, Dept. Plant Science, McGill University

​With the onset of climate change, it has become increasingly relevant to understand how plants respond to changing environmental conditions. Yet, temperate plants regularly face seasonal change and, to persist in these conditions, have adapted by adjusting their stress tolerance, phenology and development. Understanding how temperate plants follow seasonal cues during their development can help elucidate adaptation in plants. Cold acclimation (CA) and vernalization (VRN) are processes that ensure persistence in temperate climates by regulating freezing tolerance and flowering time respectively. However, how these two processes are integrated into a coordinated developmental response remains poorly understood. The model grass Brachypodium distachyon has emerged as a model to study CA and VRN in temperate cereals. By identifying key seasonal cues that occur within the native range of the species, we designed a diurnal freezing treatment (DF) that combines prevailing summer-to-winter transition signals. Under DF, B. distachyon accessions of different climatic origins manifest coordinated and novel cold acclimation and vernalization responses. Altogether, our results demonstrate a direct link between CA and VRN, and that typically used constant-temperature cold treatments induce an “over-vernalized” molecular state at the expense of freezing tolerance. This work also stresses the importance of reproducing natural signals in laboratory conditions.

Comments are closed.

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Schedule
  • Contact