Low Temperature Treatment of Barley Plants causes Altered Gene Expression in Shoot Meristems

We have examined whether acclimation to cold may involve altered gene expression by testing for the appearance of new mRNA, capable of in vitro translation, in shoot meristems of the temperate cereal, barley, grown at 6 °C day/2° C night. New mRNA is found after only 2 d in the cold, when acclimation is detectable but not complete. The altered pattern of gene expression persists during subsequent growth in the cold and is associated with a number of new mRNA molecules including a major mRNA which encodes a polypeptide Mt 77000.