Changes in apoplastic peroxidase activity and cell wall composition are associated with cold-induced morpho-anatomical plasticity of wheat leaves.

Temperate grasses, such as wheat, become compact plants with small thick leaves after exposure to low temperature. These responses are associated with cold hardiness, but their underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. Here we analyse the effects of low temperature on leaf morpho-anatomical structure, cell wall composition and activity of extracellular peroxidases, which play key roles in cell elongation and cell wall thickening, in two wheat cultivars with contrasting cold-hardening ability. A combined microscopy and biochemical approach was applied to study actively growing leaves of winter (ProINTA-Pincén) and spring (Buck-Patacón) wheat developed under constant warm (25 °C) or cool (5 °C) temperature. Cold-grown plants had shorter leaves but longer inter-stomatal epidermal cells than warm-grown plants. They had thicker walls in metaxylem vessels and mestome sheath cells, paralleled with accumulation of wall components, predominantly hemicellulose. These effects were more pronounced in the winter cultivar (Pincén). Cold also induced a sharp decrease in apoplastic peroxidase activity within the leaf elongating zone of Pincén, and a three-fold increase in the distal mature zone of the leaf. This was consistent with the enhanced cell length and thicker cell walls in this cultivar at 5 °C. The different response to low temperature of apoplastic peroxidase activity and hemicellulose between leaf zones and cultivar types suggests they might play a central role in the development of cold-induced compact morphology and cold hardening. New insights are presented on the potential temperature-driven role of peroxidases and hemicellulose in cell wall dynamics of grasses.

Protein kinase and phosphatase activities are involved in fructan synthesis initiation mediated by sugars.

The induction of fructosylsucrose-synthesizing activity (FSS) by sugars was tested using detached primary leaf blades of several wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars, immersed in different sugars solutions for 24 h in the dark. The highest induction was brought about by sucrose, while glucose, fructose and maltose also caused significant induction. 5-Ketofructose, 3-methylglucose and 6-deoxyglucose, which cannot be metabolized by plants, produced no induction at all. The fact that mannose also failed to induce FSS and that mannoheptulose did not inhibit the induction by sucrose suggests that the hexokinase-sensing system may not be involved. The protein phosphatase inhibitor okadaic acid and the calmodulin-dependent protein kinase antagonist W7 inhibited FSS induction while some types of protein kinase inhibitors, such as staurosporine and genistein, had less or no effect, respectively. Cycloheximide and cordycepin completely inhibited the induction response, indicating that transcription and translation are necessary for the FSS induction. Northern blot experiments using a sucrose:fructan-6-fructosyl transferase probe gave a clear indication that the mRNA for this enzyme, which is almost absent in control leaves, is dramatically increased after a 24-h treatment with 500 mM sucrose, and confirmed the inhibition produced by protein kinase and protein phosphatase inhibitors. Our data indicate that protein kinase and protein phosphatase activities take part in the chain of events that intervenes in the induction of fructan synthesis by sugars.