Mechanism by which plants in autumn sense the winter coming through noisy changes in air temperature

• Project/Area Number: 18K19319
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 44:Biology at cellular to organismal levels, and related fields
• Research Institution: Iwate University
• Principal Investigator: Kawamura Yukio 岩手大学, 農学部, 准教授 (10400186)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-06-29 – 2022-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2021)
• Budget Amount: ¥6,240,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,440,000); Fiscal Year 2019: ¥3,640,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥840,000); Fiscal Year 2018: ¥2,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥600,000)
• Keywords: 低温馴化 / 植物 / 冬季感知 / 温度ノイズ / 季節情報 / 機械学習 / 重回帰分析

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Studies on the molecular mechanisms of cold acclimation in plants have been carried out in simple artificial environments, so the mechanisms of seasonal sensing in the field remain completely unknown. In this study, changes in freezing tolerance in the field and weather data were combined and analyzed by machine learning. As a result, it was suggested that in field cold acclimation, plants may mainly use temperature change, not photoperiod, for the control of cold acclimation. RNA-seq analysis revealed the possibility of a characteristic control of acclimation in each temperature range. On the other hand, an experiment using growth chamber which simulated the average temperature change from autumn to winter suggested that the control of cold acclimation by day length through phytochrome occurred only in the mid-winter after December.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では、野外データと気象データを組み合わせ、また、機械学習も導入することにより、植物は温度に対し鋭敏に対応し、温度域により低温馴化制御のメカニズムが異なることが明らかに出来た。野外実験では気象データを含む膨大なデータが生じるが、機械学習を用いることにより生理学的データと結びつけられ、生理変化をもたらす野外環境の因子を特定できる可能性を示せたことは、本研究の大きな成果であった。また、これまで日長や光質の季節変化も植物の冬季感知に用いられている可能性が指摘されていたが、野外実験や野外を再現した人工気象器を用いた実験により、これらの可能性が低いことが示せたことも学術的な意義が高いと考える。

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Season specificity in the cold‐induced calcium signal and the volatile chemicals in the atmosphere (2019)
  • Author(s): Hiraki Hayato、Watanabe Manabu、Uemura Matsuo、Kawamura Yukio
  • Journal Title: Physiologia Plantarum Volume: 168 Issue: 4 Pages: 803-818
  • DOI: 10.1111/ppl.13019
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Effect of Temperature Fluctuating Cyclic Cold Acclimation on Freezing Tolerance in Three Arabidopsis Accessions (2019)
  • Author(s): HIRAKI, H., TANINO, K., WATANABE, E., MANO, S., UEMURA, M., and KAWAMURA, Y.
  • Journal Title: Cryobiology and Cryotechnology Volume: 65 Issue: 1 Pages: 17-22
  • DOI: 10.20585/cryobolcryotechnol.65.1_17
  • NAID: 130007700253
  • ISSN: 1340-7902, 2424-1555
  • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Calcium Signaling-Linked CBF/DREB1 Gene Expression was Induced Depending on the Temperature Fluctuation in the Field: Views from the Natural Condition of Cold Acclimation (2018)
  • Author(s): Hiraki Hayato、Uemura Matsuo、Kawamura Yukio
  • Journal Title: Plant and Cell Physiology Volume: 60 Issue: 2 Pages: 303-317
  • DOI: 10.1093/pcp/pcy210
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Presentation] 野外でのシロイヌナズナの凍結耐性の季節的変遷と機械学習によるその予測 (2021)
  • Author(s): 河村幸男、上村松生
  • Organizer: 日本植物学会第85回大会（東京(オンライン大会)）
• [Presentation] フィトクロムを介した日長および温度による低温誘導性遺伝子の発現制御とその解析 (2021)
  • Author(s): 笠松勇登、上村松生、河村幸男
  • Organizer: 東北植物学会第１１回大会（福島）
• [Presentation] 光を介した低温馴化プロセスにおけるクリプトクロムの役割 (2021)
  • Author(s): 下平基、高橋亜未、上村松生、河村幸男
  • Organizer: 東北植物学会第１１回大会（福島）
• [Presentation] 植物の冬の感知と秋から冬にかけての気温と日長の特徴的な変化 (2020)
  • Author(s): 河村幸男、上村松生
  • Organizer: 第61回日本植物生理学会年会
• [Presentation] Plant winter sensing and characteristic changes in air temperature and day length from autumn to winter (2020)
  • Author(s): 河村 幸男, 上村 松生
  • Organizer: 第61回日本植物生理学会年会