This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.įunding: The UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council partly funded the PhD studentship of the first author. Received: NovemAccepted: DecemPublished: January 17, 2013Ĭopyright: © 2013 Oakenfull et al. Kansas State University, United States of America The reasons for lack of potency for Vaccinium vitis-idaea CBF were not due to stability or targeting, and we speculate that this was due to altered transcription factor function.Ĭitation: Oakenfull RJ, Baxter R, Knight MR (2013) A C-Repeat Binding Factor Transcriptional Activator (CBF/DREB1) from European Bilberry ( Vaccinium myrtillus) Induces Freezing Tolerance When Expressed in Arabidopsis thaliana.
All three CBFs were correctly targeted to the nucleus, but Vaccinium uliginosum CBF appeared to be relatively unstable.
The basis for the differences in potency of the three Vaccinium CBFs was tested by observing cellular localisation and protein levels. Correspondingly, only the lines expressing the Vaccinium myrtillus CBF were constitutively freezing tolerant. Only the Vaccinium myrtillus CBF was able to substantially activate COR (CBF-target) gene expression in the absence of cold.
We tested the activity of CBF transcription factors from the three Vaccinium species by producing transgenic Arabidopsis lines overexpressing them. To test the function of CBFs from highly freezing tolerant plants species we cloned and sequenced CBF transcription factors from three Vaccinium species ( Vaccinium myrtillus, Vaccinium uliginosum and Vaccinium vitis-idaea) which we collected in the Arctic. Work in other plant species cements CBFs as key determinants in the trait of freezing tolerance in higher plants. C-repeat binding factors (CBFs) are transcription factors previously shown to play a vital role in the acclimation process of Arabidopsis thaliana, controlling the expression of hundreds of genes whose products are necessary for freezing tolerance. This has consequences for crop yields and distribution of wild plant species. This in turn reduces the ability of plants to predict the approaching low temperatures and cold acclimate. Global climate change means such freezing events are becoming less predictable. Freezing stress affects all plants from temperate zones to the poles.
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