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JXB Advance Access originally published online on September 22, 2006
Journal of Experimental Botany 2006 57(14):3755-3766; doi:10.1093/jxb/erl141
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© The Author [2006]. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology]. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

RESEARCH PAPER

Metabolism of {gamma}-aminobutyric acid during cold acclimation and freezing and its relationship to frost tolerance in barley and wheat

Elisabetta Mazzucotelli1,2, Alfredo Tartari1, Luigi Cattivelli3 and Giuseppe Forlani1,*

1Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Ferrara, via L. Borsari 46, 44100 Ferrara (FE), Italy
2CRA – Centro di Ricerca per la Cerealicoltura, S.S 16 Km 675, 71100 Foggia (FG), Italy
3CRA – Centro per le Ricerche Genomiche, Via S. Protaso 302, 29017 Fiorenzuola d'Arda (PC), Italy

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: flg{at}unife.it

Amino acid homeostasis was investigated in frost-resistant barley seedlings under either cold- or freezing-stress conditions. Total free amino acid content varied only slightly, but a substantial conversion of glutamate to {gamma}-aminobutyric acid (GABA) was found that was proportional to the severity of the stress. Cold acclimation caused a significant increase in amino acid pools, and induced the expression of the GABA-shunt genes. As a consequence, GABA accumulated to a higher extent during the subsequent exposure to lower temperature. A different picture was obtained with a frost-sensitive genotype, in which glutamate decarboxylation occurred during the stress as well, but the activation of the GABA shunt seemed not to take place, and free glutamate was almost depleted. Analogous results were found in frost-resistant and frost-sensitive wheat cultivars. Feeding non-hardened plants with exogenous glutamate resulted in increased GABA accumulation under low temperature. The possibility that glutamate decarboxylation and GABA metabolism would play a role in frost tolerance is discussed.

Key words: Amino acids, cold hardening, barley, freezing, GABA shunt, {gamma}-aminobutyric acid, substrate availability, temperature, wheat


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