BrrICE1.1 is associated with putrescine synthesis through regulation of the arginine decarboxylase gene in freezing tolerance of turnip (Brassica rapa var. rapa)

Background In the agricultural areas of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, temperature varies widely from day to night during the growing season, which makes the extreme temperature become one of the limiting factors of crop yield. Turnip (Brassica rapa var. rapa) is a traditional crop of Tibet grown in the Tibet Plateau, but its molecular and metabolic mechanisms of freezing tolerance are unclear. Results Here, based on the changes in transcriptional and metabolic levels of Tibetan turnip under freezing treatment, the expression of the arginine decarboxylase gene BrrADC2.2 exhibited an accumulative pattern in accordance with putrescine content. Moreover, we demonstrated that BrrICE1.1 (Inducer of CBF Expression 1) could directly bind to the BrrADC2.2 promoter, activating BrrADC2.2 to promote the accumulation of putrescine, which was verified by RNAi and overexpression analyses for both BrrADC2.2 and BrrICE1.1 using transgenic hair root. The function of putrescine in turnip was further analyzed by exogenous application putrescine and its inhibitor DL-α-(Difluoromethyl) arginine (DFMA) under freezing tolerance. In addition, the BrrICE1.1 was found to be involved in the ICE1-CBF pathway to increase the freezing stress of turnip. Conclusions BrrICE1.1 could bind the promoter of BrrADC2.2 or CBFs to participate in freezing tolerance of turnip by transcriptomics and targeted metabolomics analyses. This study revealed the regulatory network of the freezing tolerance process in turnip and increased our understanding of the plateau crops response to extreme environments in Tibet.