Temperature and the cell cycle.

During the period between successive divisions, a cell traverses three stages of interphase: G1 (pre-synthetic interphase), S-phase (DNA synthetic interphase) and G2 (post-synthetic interphase). The time taken for all cells in a meristem to divide (the cell doubling time (cdt] decreases in response to an increase in temperature. For example, the cdt in root meristems of Zea mays decreases 21-fold as the temperature is increased from 3 to 25 degrees C. Whether all phases of the cell cycle alter proportionately with temperature has been ascertained by comparing data from the root meristem of five species: Pisum sativum, Helianthus annuus, Tradescantia paludosa, Allium cepa and Triticum aestivum. In three of the five species there is a disproportionate lengthening of the G1 phase at low temperatures. We suggest that arrest in G1 with the associated 2C amount of DNA, confers maximal protection on the genome of a somatic cell to the stress of low temperature. DNA replication has been studied at different temperatures for Helianthus annuus, Secale cereal and Oryza sativa. The rate of DNA replication, per single replication fork, increases when the temperature is raised, while the distance between initiation points (replicon size) remains constant. The temperature at which the cell cycle has a minimum duration is close to 30 degrees C in many species, and it seems that this optimum temperature is always near the upper temperature limit of the cell cycle. The rate of cell division determines the rates of organ and cell growth. Thus, temperature has a major effect on the way in which meristematic cells are deployed in organogenesis. The rate of organogenesis, in turn, determines the response of the plant to the growing season. We predict that species growing in sub-arctic conditions comprise cells with low DNA contents and hence have the potentialities for rapid cell cycles so that maximum advantage can be taken of a short growing season. Data from Triticum aestivum show that at 5 degrees C, nucleoli are large compared with those at 10-25 degrees C. These observations are consistent with high levels of RNA polymerase and cellular RNA found at low compared with high temperatures. These responses may be important in sustaining growth at 5 degrees C. Finally, the effects of temperature on developmental transitions are discussed. The picture that emerges is that more is known about low, as opposed to high, temperature as a morphogenetic switch but virtually nothing is known about cell cycle activity during such transitions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)