What if the cold days return? Epigenetic mechanisms in plants to cold tolerance.

The epigenetic could be an important, but seldom assessed, mechanisms in plants inhabiting cold ecosystems. Thus, this review could help to fill a gap in the current literature. Low temperatures are one of the most critical environmental conditions that negatively affect the growth, development, and geographic distribution of plants.

Fungal Endophytes Exert Positive Effects on Under Water Stress but Neutral Under a Projected Climate Change Scenario in Antarctica.

Functional symbiosis is considered one of the successful mechanisms by which plants that inhabit extreme environment improve their ability to tolerate different types of stress. One of the most conspicuous type of symbiosis is the endophyticism. This interaction has been noted to play a role in the adaptation of the native vascular plant to the stressful environments of Antarctica, characterized by low temperatures and extreme aridity.

Structure/Activity Analysis of TASK-3 Channel Antagonists Based on a 5,6,7,8 tetrahydropyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidine.

TASK-3 potassium (K) channels are highly expressed in the central nervous system, regulating the membrane potential of excitable cells. TASK-3 is involved in neurotransmitter action and has been identified as an oncogenic K channel. For this reason, the understanding of the action mechanism of pharmacological modulators of these channels is essential to obtain new therapeutic strategies.

Overexpression of a Gene From Wild Tomato Decreases Stomatal Density and Enhances Dehydration Avoidance in Arabidopsis and Cultivated Tomato.

Stomata are microscopic valves formed by two guard cells flanking a pore, which are located on the epidermis of most aerial plant organs and are used for water and gas exchange between the plant and the atmosphere. The number, size and distribution of stomata are set during development in response to changing environmental conditions, allowing plants to minimize the impact of a stressful environment. In Arabidopsis, () negatively regulates stomatal density and optimizes transpiration and water use efficiency (WUE).

The pH sensor of the plant K+-uptake channel KAT1 is built from a sensory cloud rather than from single key amino acids.

The uptake of potassium ions (K+) accompanied by an acidification of the apoplasm is a prerequisite for stomatal opening. The acidification (approximately 2-2.5 pH units) is perceived by voltage-gated inward potassium channels (K(in)) that then can open their pores with lower energy cost.

Distributed structures underlie gating differences between the kin channel KAT1 and the Kout channel SKOR.

The family of voltage-gated (Shaker-like) potassium channels in plants includes both inward-rectifying (K(in)) channels that allow plant cells to accumulate K(+) and outward-rectifying (K(out)) channels that mediate K(+) efflux. Despite their close structural similarities, K(in) and K(out) channels differ in their gating sensitivity towards voltage and the extracellular K(+) concentration. We have carried out a systematic program of domain swapping between the K(out) channel SKOR and the K(in) channel KAT1 to examine the impacts on gating of the pore regions, the S4, S5, and the S6 helices.

Distinct roles of the last transmembrane domain in controlling Arabidopsis K+ channel activity.

The family of voltage-gated potassium channels in plants presumably evolved from a common ancestor and includes both inward-rectifying (K(in)) channels that allow plant cells to accumulate K(+) and outward-rectifying (K(out)) channels that mediate K(+) efflux. Despite their close structural similarities, the activity of K(in) channels is largely independent of K(+) and depends only on the transmembrane voltage, whereas that of K(out) channels responds to the membrane voltage and the prevailing extracellular K(+) concentration. Gating of potassium channels is achieved by structural rearrangements within the last transmembrane domain (S6).