CATALASE2 plays a crucial role in long-term heat tolerance of Arabidopsis thaliana

Plants are often exposed not only to short-term (S-) heat stress but also to diurnal long-term (L-) heat stress over several consecutive days; nevertheless, most previous studies of heat tolerance have used S-heat stress, such as 42 °C for 30–60 min, for evaluation. Yet the mechanisms underlying L-heat tolerance remain poorly understood. Here we found that hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in Arabidopsis thaliana plants increased time-dependently under L-heat stress (37 °C, 5 days) but not under S-heat stress (42 °C, 40 min). To reveal the contribution of reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging to heat tolerance, we evaluated the heat tolerance of ROS mutants. Only cat2 mutants, in which catalase (CAT) activity is defective, were hypersensitive to L-heat stress, but they were S-heat tolerant. We further revealed that (1) CAT2 was induced by L-heat stress but not by S-heat stress; (2) H2O2 accumulated highly in cat2 under L-heat stress, but not in cat1, cat3, or wild type; and (3) CAT activity was significantly reduced in cat2 under both normal and L-heat conditions. These results suggest that ROS scavenging is responsible for L-heat tolerance, and CAT2 plays a crucial role. On the other hand, since overexpression of CAT2 in wild-type plants did not enhance L-heat tolerance, CAT2 activity is necessary but insufficient for increasing L-heat tolerance.