ICE1: a regulator of cold-induced transcriptome and freezing tolerance in Arabidopsis

Abstract

Cold temperatures trigger the expression of the CBF family of transcription factors, which in turn activate many downstream genes that confer chilling and freezing tolerance to plants. We report here the identification of ICE1 ( i nducer of C BF e xpression 1 ), an upstream transcription factor that regulates the transcription of CBFgenes in the cold. An Arabidopsis ice1 mutant was isolated in a screen for mutations that impair cold-induced transcription of aCBF3 promoter-luciferase reporter gene. The ice1mutation blocks the expression of CBF3 and decreases the expression of many genes downstream of CBFs, which leads to a significant reduction in plant chilling and freezing tolerance.ICE1 encodes a MYC-like bHLH transcriptional activator. ICE1 binds specifically to the MYC recognition sequences in the CBF3promoter. ICE1 is expressed constitutively, and its overexpression in wild-type plants enhances the expression of theCBF regulon in the cold and improves freezing tolerance of the transgenic plants.

Keywords

• Cold signaling
• freezing tolerance
• bHLH protein
• CBF regulation
• transcriptome