Memory of 5-min heat stress in Arabidopsis thaliana

An ability of plants memorizing past heat exposure to modulate the expression of stress response transcripts during recovery is essential for efficient acquired thermotolerance. In this study, we demonstrated that expression of heat response transcripts spiked at 30 min or 1 h, but dramatically declined at 3 h during recoveries following exposure to 5-min heat stress in Arabidopsis. In contrast, expression of transcripts up-regulated by 45-min heat stress was sustained for 30 min or 1 h then declined during recovery. These results suggest that heat memory can be differently modulated depending on the duration of heat exposure, and indicate that plants can memorize even 5-min heat stress to regulate acclimatory responses during recovery. Later hypothesis can be supported by the finding that accumulation of heat response proteins was also modulated during recovery following 5-min heat stress. In addition, 5-min heat stress followed by 3 h recovery was efficient to activate acquired thermotolerance of plants, although spike of transcript expression was observed at 1 h during recovery. These results suggest that plants possess the ability to quickly memorize heat stress and reset cellular states during recovery to adapt to subsequent severe heat stress.