Arabidopsis thaliana AKR2A plays an important role in plant responses to cold stress. However, its exact function in plant resistance to cold stress remains unclear. In the present study, we found that the contents of very long‐chain fatty acids (VLCFAs) in akr2a mutants were decreased, and the expression level of KCS1 was also reduced. Overexpression of KCS1 in the akr2a mutants could enhance VLCFAs contents and chilling tolerance. Yeast‐2‐hybrid and bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BIFC) results showed that the transmembrane motif of KCS1 interacts with the PEST motif of AKR2A both in vitro and in vivo. Overexpression of KCS1 in akr2a mutants rescued akr2a mutant phenotypes, including chilling sensitivity and a decrease of VLCFAs contents. Moreover, the transgenic plants co‐overexpressing AKR2A and KCS1 exhibited a greater chilling tolerance than the plants overexpressing AKR2A or KCS1 alone, as well as the wild‐type. AKR2A knockdown and kcs1 knockout mutants showed the worst performance under chilling conditions. These results indicate that AKR2A is involved in chilling tolerance via an interaction with KCS1 to affect VLCFA biosynthesis in Arabidopsis.

中文翻译：

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AKR2A 与 KCS1 相互作用提高拟南芥 VLCFA 含量和耐冷性。


拟南芥AKR2A 在植物对冷胁迫的反应中发挥着重要作用。然而，其在植物抗冷胁迫中的确切功能仍不清楚。在本研究中，我们发现akr2a突变体中极长链脂肪酸（VLCFA）的含量降低，KCS1的表达水平也降低。 akr2a突变体中KCS1的过表达可以提高 VLCFA 含量和耐冷性。 Yeast-2-杂交和双分子荧光互补（BIFC）结果表明，KCS1 的跨膜基序与 AKR2A 的 PEST 基序在体外和体内均相互作用。 akr2a突变体中KCS1的过表达挽救了akr2a突变体的表型，包括寒冷敏感性和 VLCFA 含量降低。此外，共同过表达AKR2A和KCS1的转基因植物比单独过表达AKR2A或KCS1 的植物以及野生型表现出更高的耐冷性。 AKR2A敲除和kcs1敲除突变体在寒冷条件下表现出最差的性能。这些结果表明AKR2A通过与KCS1相互作用来影响拟南芥中的VLCFA生物合成，从而参与耐冷性。