Alterations of phenotype, physiology, and functional substances reveal the chilling-tolerant mechanism in two common Olea Europaea cultivars

Chenkai Jiang; Wenjun Hu; Hongling Lu; Lin Chen; Erli Niu; Shenlong Zhu; Guoxin Shen

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1046719

Alterations of phenotype, physiology, and functional substances reveal the chilling-tolerant mechanism in two common Olea Europaea cultivars

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Feb 1:14:1046719. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1046719. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Chenkai Jiang¹, Wenjun Hu¹, Hongling Lu¹, Lin Chen¹, Erli Niu², Shenlong Zhu², Guoxin Shen¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Sericulture and Tea, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
² Institute of Crops and Nuclear Technology Utilization, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.

Abstract

Olive suffers from cold damage when introduced to high-latitude regions from its native warm climes. Therefore, this study aims to improve the adaption of olive to climates in which it is cold for part of the year. The phenotype, physiological performance, nutrient content, and gene expression of olive leaves (from two widely planted cultivars) were examined after cultivation in normal and cold stress conditions. The results showed that the cold-tolerant cultivar possessed stronger photosynthesis efficiency and higher anti-oxidase activity after cold treatment than the cold-sensitive cultivar. Alteration of gene expression and metabolites in the amino acid metabolism, glycerolipid metabolism, diterpenoid biosynthesis, and oleuropein metabolism pathways played an important role in the cold responses of olive. Furthermore, the construction of the network of genes for ubiquitination and metabolites suggested that polyubiquitination contributes most to the stable physiology of olive under cold stress. Altogether, the results of this study can play an important role in helping us to understand the cold hardiness of olive and screen cold-resistant varieties for excellent quality and yield.

Keywords: amino acids; cold resistance; gene expression; lipids; terpenes.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Key Research and Development Program of Zhejiang Province (2021C02002), the Key Scientific and Technological Grant of Zhejiang for Breeding New Agricultural Varieties (2021C02072-5), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31402140, 31670303), Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (LQ22C160010), and the Project of Science and Technology Program of Quzhou, China (2021K34).