Transcriptomic profiling revealed the regulatory mechanism of Arabidopsis seedlings response to oxidative stress from cryopreservation.

KEY MESSAGE: Elevated antioxidant status and positive abiotic stress response in dehydration enhance cell resistance to cryoinjury, and controlling oxidative damage via reactive oxygen species homeostasis maintenance leads to high survival. Cryoprotectants are important for cell survival in cryopreservation, but high concentrations can also cause oxidative stress. Adding vitamin C to the cryoprotectant doubled the survival ratio in Arabidopsis thaliana 60-h seedlings (seedlings after 60-h germination) cryopreservation. In this study, the metabolites and transcriptional profiling of 60-h seedlings were analyzed in both the control cryopreservation procedure (CCP) and an improved cryopreservation procedure (ICP) to reveal the mechanism of plant cell response to oxidative stress from cryopreservation. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and peroxidation levels reached a peak after rapid cooling-warming in CCP, which were higher than that in ICP. In addition, gene regulation was significantly increased in CCP and decreased in ICP during rapid cooling-warming. Before cryogenic treatment, the number of specifically regulated genes was nearly 10 times higher in ICP dehydration than CCP dehydration. Among these genes, DREBs/CBFs were beneficial to cope with cryoinjury, and calcium-binding protein, OXI1, WRKY and MYB family members as key factors in ROS signal transduction activated the ROS-producing and ROS-scavenging networks including AsA-GSH and GPX cycles involved in scavenging H2O2. Finally, elevated antioxidant status and oxidative stress response in the improved dehydration enhanced seedling resistance to cryogenic treatment, maintained ROS homeostasis and improved cell recovery after cryopreservation.