Dynamic compositional changes of detergent-resistant plasma membrane microdomains during plant cold acclimation

Plants increase their freezing tolerance upon exposure to low, non-freezing temperatures, which is known as cold acclimation. Cold acclimation results in a decrease in the proportion of sphingolipids in the plasma membrane in many plants including Arabidopsis thaliana. The decrease in sphingolipids has been considered to contribute to the increase in the cryostability of the plasma membrane through regulating membrane fluidity. Recently we have proposed a possibility of another important sphingolipid function associated with cold acclimation. In animal cells, it has been known that the plasma membrane contains microdomains due to the chanracteristics of sphingolipids and sterols, and the sphingolipid- and sterol-enriched microdomains are thought to function as platforms for cell signaling, membrane trafficking and pathogen response. In our research on characterization of microdomain-associated lipids and proteins in Arabidopsis, cold-acclimation-induced decrease in sphingolipids resulted in a decrease of microdomains in the plasma membrane and there were considerable changes in membrane transport-, cytoskeleton- and endocytosis-related proteins in the microdomains during cold acclimation. Based on these results, we discuss a functional relationship between the changes in microdomain components and plant cold acclimation.