Freezing tolerance in plants: a biochemical overview

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Abstract
Tolerance to extracellular freezing is an inducible and hereditable trait in many plants. Cellular membranes have been accepted as the sites of extracellular freezing injury, although not all cellular membranes exhibit similar degrees of sensitivity to freezing. Plasma membrane function and photosynthetic activity are among the first cellular activities to be affected after a freeze–thaw cycle. The structural nature of irreversible membrane alterations leading to cell injury during lethal freezing are well understood. However, although numerous biochemical changes have been observed during cold hardening, the exact changes that enable membranes of hardened plant cells to withstand the dehydrating and mechanical stresses of extracellular freezing have not been unequivocally elucidated. Similarly, the biochemical events subsequent to initial exposure of the plant cell to environmental or chemical triggers required for the induction of freezing tolerance are not known. The role of protein synthesis and altered gene expression during the induction of freeing tolerance is discussed.

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