Ectopic expression of Arabidopsis RCI2A gene contributes to cold tolerance in tomato

Cold is a major stress that limits the quality and productivity of economically important crops such as tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). Generating a cold-stress-tolerant tomato by expressing cold-inducible genes would increase agricultural strategies. Rare cold-inducible 2a (RCI2A) is expressed in Arabidopsis, but its molecular function during cold stress is not fully understood. Here we ectopically expressed Arabidopsis RCI2A in transgenic tomato to evaluate tolerance to cold stress without altering agronomic traits. Biochemical and physiological study demonstrated that expression of RCI2A in transgenic tomato enhanced the activity of peroxidase and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and reduced the accumulation of H2O2, alleviated lipid peroxidation, increased the accumulation of chlorophyll, reduced chilling-induced membrane damage, retained relative water content and enhanced cold tolerance. A motif search revealed that the motifs of photosystem II (PSII) phosphoproteins PsbJ and PsbH and reaction-center proteins PsbL and PsbK were common to cold-inducible RCI2A and peroxidase proteins RCI3A, tomato peroxidase (TPX1), TPX2, tomato ascorbate peroxidase (APX1), and horseradish peroxidase (HRP-c). In addition to membrane protection, RCI2A may cross talk with PSII-associated proteins or peroxidase family enzymes in response to cold stress. Our findings may strengthen the understanding of the molecular function of RCI2A in cold-stress tolerance. RCI2A could be used to improve abiotic stress tolerance in agronomic crops.