Is winter coming? Impact of the changing climate on plant responses to cold temperature

Climate change is causing alterations in annual temperature regimes worldwide. Important aspects of this include the reduction of winter chilling temperatures as well as the occurrence of unpredicted frosts, both significantly affecting plant growth and yields. Recent studies advanced the knowledge of the mechanisms underlying cold responses and tolerance in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. However, how these cold-responsive pathways will readjust to ongoing seasonal temperature variation caused by global warming remains an open question. In this review, we highlight the plant developmental programmes that depend on cold temperature. We focus on the molecular mechanisms that plants have evolved to adjust their development and stress responses upon exposure to cold. Covering both genetic and epigenetic aspects, we present the latest insights into how alternative splicing, noncoding RNAs and the formation of biomolecular condensates play key roles in the regulation of cold responses. We conclude by commenting on attractive targets to accelerate the breeding of increased cold tolerance, bringing up biotechnological tools that might assist in overcoming current limitations. Our aim is to guide the reflection on the current agricultural challenges imposed by a changing climate and to provide useful information for improving plant resilience to unpredictable cold regimes.

This work was supported by the Junior Leader Fellowship (LCF/BQ/PI19/11690003) from “laCaixa” Foundation (ID100010434) awarded to Julia I. Qüesta and from MCIN/AEI “PID2019-110510GA-I00”/10.13039/501100011033. Alvaro Santiago Larran has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 945043. Work at CRAG was also supported by grant no. SEV-2015-0533 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, and by the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya. Alice Pajoro receives funding from the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) in the PRIN2020 scheme (Prot. 2020RX4NWM), from Regione Lazio under the POR-FERS project Top of the Crop (A0375-2020-36731) and from the Max-Planck Society as leader of a Max-Planck Partner group. Alice Pajoro is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) through Cluster of Excellence CEPLAS (EXC 2048/1 Project ID: 390686111).

Peer reviewed