A number of studies have shown the existence of cross-tolerance in plants, but the physiological mechanism is poorly understood. In this study, we used the germination of barley seeds as a system to investigate the cross-tolerance of low-temperature pretreatment to high-temperature stress and the possible involvement of reactive oxygen species （ROS） scavenging enzymes in the cross-tolerance. After pretreatment at 0 ℃ for different periods of time, barley seeds were germinated at 35 ℃, and the content of malondialdehyde （MDA） and the activities of ROS scavenging enzymes were measured by a spectrophotometer analysis. The results showed that barley seed germinated very poorly at 35 ℃, and this inhibitive effect could be overcome by pretreatment at 0 ℃. The MDA content varied, depending on the temperature at which seeds germinated, while barley seeds pretreated at 0 ℃ did not change the MDA content. Compared with seeds germinated directly at 35 ℃, the seeds pretreated first at 0 ℃ and then germinated at 35 ℃ had markedly increased activities of superoxide dismutase （SOD）, ascorbate peroxidase （APX）, catalase （CAT）, and glutathione reductase （GR）. The SOD and APX activities of seeds germinated at 35 ℃ after 0 ℃-pretreatment were even substantially higher than those at 25 ℃, and GR activity was similar to that at 25 ℃, at which the highest germination performance of barley seeds was achieved. These results indicate that low-temperature pretreatment can markedly increase the tolerance of barley seed to high temperature during germination, this being related to the increase in ROS scavenging enzyme activity. This may provide a new method for increasing seed germination under stress environments, and may be an excellent model system for the study of cross-tolerance.
Long-term preservation of recalcitrant seeds is very difficult because the physiological basis on their desiccation sensitivity is poorly understood. Survival of Antiaris toxicaria axes rapidly decreased and that of immature maize embryos very slowly decreased with dehydration. To understand their different responses to dehydration, we examined the changes in mitochondria activity during dehydration. Although activities of cytochrome （Cyt） c oxidase and malate dehydrogenase of the A. toxicaria axis and maize embryo mitochondria decreased with dehydration, the parameters of maize embryo mitochondria were much higher than those of A. toxicaria, showing that the damage was more severe for the A. toxicaria axis mitochondria than for those of maize embryo. The state I and III respiration of the A. toxicaria axis mitochondria were higher than those of maize embryo, the former rapidly decreased, and the latter slowly decreased with dehydration. The proportion of Cyt c pathway to state III respiration for the A. toxicaria axis mitochondria was low and rapidly decreased with dehydration, and the proportion of alternative oxidase pathway was high and slightly increased with dehydration. In contrast, the proportion of Cyt c pathway for maize embryo mitochondria was high, and that of alternative oxidase pathway was low. Both pathways decreased slowly with dehydration.
