Physiological and Metabolic Responses of Jatropha to Chilling Stress

Chilling-susceptibility is the bottleneck for cultivation and commercialization of Jatropha curcas L., a novel promising biodiesel tree. To explore its network reactions to cold stress and pick out the most valuable approach for germplasm improvement, four pop systems, consisting of reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging enzymes, photosystem, and phenylpropanoid metabolism, typical chilling-induced genes/transcription factors (TFs) were detected in seedlings exposed to 4 degrees C. The results revealed that J. curcas has high cold-sensitivity might result from its seriously hysteretic responses (at least 2-3 h delay) to chilling damages. Among its molecular web of cold response, CBF TFs reacted most dramatically, up to 44-118 folds above the control. High chilling-responsiveness indicated CBFs should be candidates of gene engineering for improvement of chilling tolerance in Results also revealed that tricarboxylic acid and lycolysis, monophosphate pathways might hexose more ATP, NADH/NADPH for photosystem to maintain the cyclic electron generate flow. Besides the ROS scavenging system, flavonoids from phenylpropanoid pathway could also protect membrane lipid in flow. The studies provided a foundational knowledge ocold stress. The studies provided a foundational knowledge ocold stress response of net to chilling stress, and inspired that predictable and rapid response of CBF regulon is the direction for improvement of cold tolerance. (C) 2013 Friends Science Publishers