ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1527754
This article is part of the Research TopicAbiotic Stress Combination: Improving Resilience to Develop Climate-Smart CropsView all 7 articles
Effect of membrane rigidification on the BrAFP1 expression and cold-tolerance in Brassica rapa
Provisionally accepted
Xiaoyun Dong1
Jinxiong Wang2,3Jiaping Wei1Guoqiang Zheng1Zefeng Wu1Junmei Cui1Xuezhen Yang4Baojin Li1Shujun Zhu1Ermei Sa1Fengpeng Yang5
Zigang Liu1*- 1State Key Laboratory of Aridland Crop Biology, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China
- 2Tibet Academy of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Sciences, Lhasa, China
- 3Agricultural Research Institute, Tibet Academy of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Sciences, Lasa, China
- 4Pingliang Seed Station, Pingliang, China
- 5Gansu Seed Industry Company Limited, Lanzhou, China
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The cold tolerance of winter rapeseed cultivars is critically important for winter survival and yield formation in northern area. BrAFP1, an antifreeze protein in Brassica rapa, is hypothesized to stabilize membranes and inhibit ice crystal formation. To investigate the impact of membrane state changes on BrAFP1 expression and the cold tolerance in winter rapeseed, we cloned the BrAFP1 promoter from the cold-tolerant cultivar Longyou 7 (L7) and constructed the proBrAFP1::GUS expression vector. Ten independent transgenic T3 lines were generated, among which T3-5 and T3-7 were selected for subsequent analysis. The dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) treatment in the absence of cold exposure activated the transcriptional activity of proBrAFP1, a cold-inducible promoter; in contrast, benzyl alcohol (BA) treatment eliminated its cold-induced activation. The expression levels of cold-responsive genes, including cyclic nucleotide-gated channel 1 (CNGC1), open stomata 1 (OST1), and inducer of CBF expression 1 (ICE1), as well as membrane fluidity-related genes, such as acyl-lipid desaturase 2 (ADS2), fatty acid desaturase 2 (FAD2), and sensitive to freezing 2 (SFR2), were significantly increased following DMSO pretreatment, while BA treatment significantly inhibited the expression of these genes. Furthermore, ABA and SA levels are closely linked to alterations in the membrane state, compared to untreated plants, the levels of ABA and SA in the leaves markedly increased at 4°C after DMSO and BA treatment but decreased at -4°C. Collectively, DMSO pretreatment enhanced cold tolerance, while BA pretreatment improved cell survival under cold stress, which is important for practise of keeping the rapeseed yields.
Keywords: Membrane Fluidity, cold tolerance, Dimethyl Sulfoxide, Benzyl Alcohol, proBrAFP1 activity. 1. Introduction
Received: 13 Nov 2024; Accepted: 18 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Dong, Wang, Wei, Zheng, Wu, Cui, Yang, Li, Zhu, Sa, Yang and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zigang Liu, State Key Laboratory of Aridland Crop Biology, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China
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