Frost tolerance and metabolic profiling in Eucalyptus under cold acclimation

GUARNASCHELLI, A.; PODESTÁ, F.E.; OBERSCHELP, J.; HARRAND, L.; MARGARIT, E.; TESÓN, N.

Concepción

Conferencia; IUFRO Tree Biotechnology 2017.; 2017

INTERNATIONAL UNION OF FOREST RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS (IUFRO)

Frost tolerance and metabolic profiling in Eucalyptus under cold acclimationMargarit Ezequiel 1, Oberschelp Javier2, Guarnaschelli Ana3, Tesón Natalia2,Harrand Leonel2, Podestá Florencio11 Centro de Estudios Fotosintéticos y Bioquímicos (CEFOBI). Suipacha 570, Rosario, Santa Fe. Argentina. 2 EEA Concordia del INTA, Ruta 22 y vías del ferrocarril, Concordia, Entre Ríos. Argentina. 3 Facultad de Agronomía de la Universidad de Buenos Aires (FAUBA). Av. San Martín 4453, CABA, Argentina. Contact: margarit@cefobi-conicet.gov.arEucalyptus grandis Hill ex Maiden and its hybrids with E. urophylla ST.Blake are the most planted eucalypts in subtropical areas due to its high productivity and good adaptability. However, early, late or sudden frosts hamper young plantations establishment and development in frost-prone areas. To deal with this issue, well-known frost tolerant species are used, such as E. dunnii Maiden and E. benthamii Maiden & Cambage. Under normal circumstances, acclimation helps to endure freezing temperatures triggering a plethora of metabolic changes defined by the genetic background of each genotype. By characterizing these changes in the frost sensitive E. grandis and the frost tolerant E. dunnii and E. benthamii under two acclimation regimes, we aimed at identifying metabolites involved in frost tolerance.Simulated frosts showed that E. benthamii has higher frost tolerance than E. dunnii and E. grandis under both acclimation scenarios coupled to a higher accumulation of phenolics, anthocyanins and soluble sugars. Moreover, a higher resolution metabolic profiling showed that cold acclimation induced a rise of osmoprotectants and antioxidants, in a species - and acclimation condition - manner.Our findings suggest that each species has different requirements for cold acclimation or slightly different mechanisms to endure frosts. These results open new possibilities for tree breeding, given the power of new biotech tools as proteomics and transcriptomics, which could help with the identification and study of candidate mechanisms and genes related to frost tolerance.