Key Laboratory of Biodiversity and Biogeography, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650204, China.
Plant Cell Environ. 2011 Sep;34(9):1431-42. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3040.2011.02341.x. Epub 2011 Jun 20.
One major strategy by which plants adapt to temperature change is to decrease the degree of unsaturation of membrane lipids under high temperature and increase it under low temperature. We hypothesize that this strategy cannot be adopted by plants in ecosystems and environments with frequent alterations between high and low temperatures, because changes in lipid unsaturation are complex and require large energy inputs. To test this hypothesis, we used a lipidomics approach to profile changes in molecular species of membrane glycerolipids in two plant species sampled from alpine screes and in another two plant species grown in a growth chamber, with the temperature cycling daily between heat and freezing. We found that six classes of phospholipid and two classes of galactolipid showed significant changes, but the degree of unsaturation of total lipids and of three lysophospholipid classes remained unchanged. This pattern of changes in membrane lipids was distinct from that occurring during slow alterations in temperature. We propose two types of model for the adaptation of plants to temperature change: (1) remodelling of membrane lipids but maintenance of the degree of unsaturation are used to adapt to frequent temperature alterations; and (2) both remodelling and changes in the degree of unsaturation to adapt to infrequent temperature alterations.
植物适应温度变化的一个主要策略是在高温下降低膜脂的不饱和程度，在低温下提高其不饱和程度。我们假设，在温度频繁变化的生态系统和环境中，这种策略不能被植物采用，因为脂质不饱和程度的变化很复杂，需要大量的能量投入。为了验证这一假设，我们使用脂质组学方法来分析高山石楠中的两种植物和生长室中培养的另外两种植物的膜甘油脂的分子种类在热和冷冻之间每天循环的温度变化下的变化。我们发现，磷脂的六个类和半乳糖脂的两个类表现出显著变化，但总脂质和三种溶血磷脂类的不饱和程度保持不变。这种膜脂的变化模式与温度缓慢变化时的变化模式不同。我们提出了两种植物适应温度变化的模型：（1） 重塑膜脂，但保持不饱和程度，以适应频繁的温度变化；（2） 重塑和不饱和程度的变化都用来适应不频繁的温度变化。
