Advances in cold-resistant wheat varieties

Description

Winter wheat is planted in the autumn and must survive the winter months before being harvested the following summer. Winterhardiness is therefore of paramount importance to the survival of the crop. This chapter reviews recent advances in our understanding of the transcriptomic and genetic basis of the wheat plants’ response to low, above-freezing temperatures and to sub-freezing temperatures. We show that wheat plants enact numerous transcriptomic and metabolic networks in response to low temperatures, and that the response is exquisitely tied to the nature of the cold stress, the developmental status of the plant, the part of the plant and the time of day of the onset of low temperature.

Table of contents

1 Introduction 2 Vernalization and cold tolerance 3 Transcriptomic response during acclimation/acclimatization 4 Transcriptomic response to sub-freezing temperatures 5 Molecular markers associated with cold tolerance 6 Global networks involved in freezing tolerance 7 Biochemical changes during cold acclimation and freezing 8 Freezing tolerance of reproductive tissues 9 Conclusions 10 Where to look for further information 11 References