Differential physiological and metabolic response to low temperature in two zoysiagrass genotypes native to high and low latitude

• Published in: PloS one 2018-06, Vol.13 (6), p.e0198885-e0198885
• Main Authors: Li, Shuangming, Yang, Yong, Zhang, Qiang, Liu, Ningfang, Xu, Qingguo, Hu, Longxing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abiotic stress; Abscisic acid; Abscisic Acid - analysis; Abscisic Acid - metabolism; Acetic acid; Agronomy; Biology and Life Sciences; Carbohydrates; Carbon dioxide; Cell division; Chilling; Chlorophyll; Chlorophyll - metabolism; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Cold; Cold Temperature; Cold tolerance; Conductance; Cooling; Cyclopentanes - analysis; Cyclopentanes - metabolism; Dehydration; Earth Sciences; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Electrolyte leakage; Embryogenesis; Embryonic growth stage; Energy reserves; Freezing; Freezing temperatures; Fructose; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Genotype; Genotypes; Geographical distribution; Gibberellic acid; Glucose; Grasses; Growing season; Growth chambers; Indoleacetic acid; Indoleacetic Acids - analysis; Indoleacetic Acids - metabolism; Jasmonic acid; Latitude; Leaves; Limiting factors; Low temperature; Mass Spectrometry; Membranes; Metabolic response; Metabolism; Monosaccharides - analysis; Oxylipins - analysis; Oxylipins - metabolism; Phenotypes; Photochemicals; Photosynthesis; Physical Sciences; Physiological aspects; Physiology; Plant growth; Plant Growth Regulators - analysis; Plant Growth Regulators - metabolism; Plant hormones; Plant Leaves - metabolism; Plant Proteins - genetics; Plant Proteins - metabolism; Poaceae - genetics; Poaceae - growth & development; Poaceae - metabolism; Proteins; Resistance; Salicylic acid; Seeds; Senescence; Stomatal conductance; Stress, Physiological; Sucrose; Sugar; Temperature effects; Transcription factors; Transpiration; Trehalose; Turf; Up-Regulation; Warm seasons; Zoysia japonica
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0198885

Low temperature is one of the important limiting factors for growing season and geographical distribution of plants. Zoysiagrass (Zoysia Willd) is one of the widely used warm-season turfgrass that is distribute in many parts of the world. Zoysaigrass native to high latitude may have evolved higher cold tolerance than the ones native to low latitude. The objective of this study was to investigate the cold stress response in zoysiagrass native to diverse latitude at phenotypic, physiological and metabolic levels. Two zoysiagrass (Z. japonica) genotypes, Latitude-40 (higher latitude) and Latitude-22 (lower latitude) were subjected to four temperature treatments (optimum, 30/25°C, day/night; suboptimum, 18/12°C; chilling, 8/2°C; freezing, 2/-4°C) progressively in growth chambers. Low temperature (chilling and freezing) increased leaf electrolyte leakage (EL) and reduced plant growth, turf quality, chlorophyll (Chl) content, photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm) and photosynthesis (Pn, net photosynthetic rate; gs, stomatal conductance; intercellular CO2; Tr, transpiration rate) in two genotypes, with more rapid changes in Latitude-22. Leaf carbohydrates content (glucose, fructose, sucrose, trehalose, fructan, starch) increased with the decreasing of temperature, to a great extend in Latitude-40. Leaf abscisic acid (ABA), salicylic acid (SA) and jasmonic acid (JA) content increased, while indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), gibberellic acid (GA3) and trans-zeatin ribside (t-ZR) content decreased with the reduction of temperature, with higher content in Latitude-40 than in Latitude-22. Chilling and freezing induced the up-regulation of C-repeat binding factor (ZjCBF), late embryogenesis abundant (ZjLEA3) and dehydration-responsive element binding (ZjDREB1) transcription factors in two genotypes, whereas those genes exhibited higher expression levels in Latitude-40, particularly under freezing temperature. These results suggested that zoysiagrass native to higher latitude exhibited higher freezing tolerance may attribute to the higher carbohydrates serving as energy reserves and stress protectants that stabilize cellular membranes. The phytohormones may serve signals in regulating plant growth, development and adaptation to low temperature as well as inducing the up-regulated ZjCBF, ZjLEA3 and ZjDREB1 expressions thus result in a higher cold tolerance.