/Plant Science/journal reported a long noncoding RNA that improves cold
stress tolerance in Arabidopsis.

Cold stress is one of the major environmental factors that impact global
crop yield and production. Several long noncoding RNAs have been known
to be involved in plant response to cold stress, but their molecular
biological role is still to be explored.

Researchers from Qingdao Agricultural University identified a novel long
noncoding RNA/COLD INDUCED lncRNA 1//(CIL1)/, as a positive regulator of
the plant response to cold stress in Arabidopsis. They observed
that/CIL1/was significantly induced when the plant was exposed to cold
stress./CIL1/mutants exhibited sensitivity to cold stress through
reduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging and osmotic
substances contents.

Based on the results, the researchers concluded that/CIL1/controls the
expression of multiple stress-related genesthat are linked to plant cold
tolerance.

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