Cross-Species Rhizome Proteomics Uncovers Conserved Freezing-Tolerance Strategies in Temperate Prairie Grasses: Insights for Improving Maize Cold Tolerance

ABSTRACT: Early maize planting requires cold tolerance in temperate regions, which is not present in current elite maize. By extending the growing season of annual crops, net primary productivity and yield can be improved and the mismatch between soil nitrate availability and crop nitrate demand can be addressed. Wild PACMAD grasses have each independently evolved freezing tolerance. To uncover the molecular basis of this convergence, we performed TMT‐based shotgun proteomics on rhizome tissues—a perennial storage organ—sampled during winter dormancy and summer activity from five species: Panicum virgatum, Andropogon gerardii, Miscanthus giganteus, Sorghastrum nutans and Tripsacum (maize’s sister genus), all grown in Ithaca, NY (where winter lows reach –29 °C). From between ~2,400 and 4,500 proteins quantified per species per season, 330 protein families showed consistent upregulation in winter, yet only three—late embryogenesis abundant 3 (LEA3), aldose reductase, and phosphatidylethanolamine‐binding protein (PEBP)—were shared across all five lineages. Functional enrichment highlighted recurrent use of lipid transfer proteins, heat shock proteins, LEAs, and other drought‐associated cryoprotectants. Comparing rhizome proteomic data with tissue‐specific mRNA expression surprisingly revealed Tripsacum seedling leaf tissues showed substantially higher transcriptional responsiveness to cold than underground tissues, a pattern less pronounced in cold sensitive maize seedlings. Overall, the independent evolution of rhizome frost tolerance in PACMAD grasses appears to be governed by similar mechanisms driven primarily by expression‐level changes and complemented by protein structural adaptations—particularly within the LEA family—offering candidate targets for improving freezing tolerance in maize.

INSTRUMENT(S):

ORGANISM(S): Andropogon Gerardi Tripsacum Dactyloides Panicum Virgatum Sorghastrum Nutans Miscanthus X Giganteus

TISSUE(S): Plant Cell, Root

SUBMITTER: Qin Fu  

LAB HEAD: Qin Fu

PROVIDER: PXD063668 | Pride | 2026-01-23

REPOSITORIES: Pride