Departments of Horticulture and Biological Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634. All plants are exposed to environmental stress at some time during their life cycle. Plants respond to such stress by regulating the expression of genes ultimately responsible for synthesis of compounds that help in adapting to the stress.
Acclimation is a naturally occurring physiological process in many temperate perennial plants.
In addition to synthesis of compounds like osmolytes and cryoprotectants, the degree of unsaturation of membrane lipid fatty acids contributes to the ability of these plants to withstand prolonged exposure to low temperature. In addition, there is concomitant decrease in the amount of the di-unsaturated fatty acid linoleic acid. There are cultivar-specific differences in the timing and magnitude of these changes, but the basic pattern is the same. Gene family sizes will be determined by genomic Southern blot analysis. A genomic library, in lambda EMBL3, will be screened to obtain the full-length gene clones.