Cold Tolerance in Alfalfa: Physiological Mechanisms, Regulatory Networks, and Molecular Breeding Prospects.
- 1College of Animal Science and Technology, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing 163319, China.
Abstract
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a perennial legume forage whose winter survival determines stand persistence, spring green-up, and long-term yield in cold regions. Low-temperature stress causes membrane phase transitions, cellular dehydration, impaired photosynthetic electron transport, and excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation. Tolerance depends on coordinated antioxidant protection, osmotic adjustment, membrane stabilization, photosynthetic maintenance, and carbon-nitrogen allocation to the root crown. At the molecular level, this process is mediated by calcium ion signaling, phytohormone pathways, and the cold-responsive ICE-CBF/DREB-COR regulatory cascade. Reported molecular resources include calmodulin-like protein modules (MsCML10 and MsCML50), CBF/DREB factors, autophagy and circadian regulators, sugar-metabolism genes, and genes from yellow-flowered alfalfa. This review integrates low-temperature injury, physiological responses, molecular regulatory networks, evaluation methods, genetic resources, and breeding progress. It emphasizes that evidence strength differs among cultivated-alfalfa functional studies, heterologous validation, and omics-based candidate discovery. Major gaps include inconsistent phenotyping, insufficient root-crown and overwintering-bud characterization, limited validation under natural overwintering, and weak translation of candidate genes into breeding populations. Future research should combine standardized multi-environment phenotyping with multi-omics, functional validation in alfalfa, marker development, genomic selection, and multi-trait improvement of cold tolerance, yield, forage quality, and stress adaptation.
Related
- Submergence Response and Tolerance of Rice: Morphological and Physiological Strategies, and Regulatory Mechanisms.
- Waterlogging tolerance in pigeonpea: current understanding of physiological responses, genetic resources, and genomic prospects
- Postharvest senescence of broccoli in the multi-omics era: molecular mechanisms, regulatory networks, and prospects for germplasm innovation
- Integrating physiological and proteomics signatures for understanding drought, salinity and alkalinity stress tolerance mechanisms in lentil
- Integrated Physiological, Transcriptomic, and Proteomic Analyses Reveal Alkali Stress Response and Tolerance Mechanisms of Rhododendron obtusum ‘Fenzhuanglou’ Seedlings
BibTeX
@article{yang2026cold,
title = {{Cold Tolerance in Alfalfa: Physiological Mechanisms, Regulatory Networks, and Molecular Breeding Prospects.}},
author = {Weiguang Yang and Xiaojia Shi and Jinyang Lu and Xiangping Liu},
journal = {Plants (Basel, Switzerland)},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/plants15203110},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42943063},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Cold Tolerance in Alfalfa: Physiological Mechanisms, Regulatory Networks, and Molecular Breeding Prospects.
AU - Weiguang Yang
AU - Xiaojia Shi
AU - Jinyang Lu
AU - Xiangping Liu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/11
JO - Plants (Basel, Switzerland)
DO - 10.3390/plants15203110
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42943063
AB - Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a perennial legume forage whose winter survival determines stand persistence, spring green-up, and long-term yield in cold regions. Low-temperature stress causes membrane phase transitions, cellular dehydration, impaired photosynthetic electron transport, and excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation. Tolerance depends on coordinated antioxidant protection, osmotic adjustment, membrane stabilization, photosynthetic maintenance, and carbon-nitrogen allocation to the root crown. At the molecular level, this process is mediated by calcium ion signaling, phytohormone pathways, and the cold-responsive ICE-CBF/DREB-COR regulatory cascade. Reported molecular resources include calmodulin-like protein modules (MsCML10 and MsCML50), CBF/DREB factors, autophagy and circadian regulators, sugar-metabolism genes, and genes from yellow-flowered alfalfa. This review integrates low-temperature injury, physiological responses, molecular regulatory networks, evaluation methods, genetic resources, and breeding progress. It emphasizes that evidence strength differs among cultivated-alfalfa functional studies, heterologous validation, and omics-based candidate discovery. Major gaps include inconsistent phenotyping, insufficient root-crown and overwintering-bud characterization, limited validation under natural overwintering, and weak translation of candidate genes into breeding populations. Future research should combine standardized multi-environment phenotyping with multi-omics, functional validation in alfalfa, marker development, genomic selection, and multi-trait improvement of cold tolerance, yield, forage quality, and stress adaptation.
SN - 2223-7747
ER -