Evaluation of cold response in Ilex paraguariensis

Ilex paraguariensis, also known as ‘Yerba mate’, occurs naturally in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay and is also grown in these countries with different intensities. Leaves and branches of this plant are used in the preparation of a stimulant beverage that beside social importance has notorious health impact. However, the cultivated herbs present low productivity, due to defi ciencies in cultivation and harvesting techniques, as well as due to the abiotic stresses that this species is subject to. The discovery and characterization of cold response mechanisms in plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana, began research in order to unravel the physiological and molecular mechanisms in response to cold in other plant species. In this work, we studied the physiological response observed in Ilex paraguariensis plants submitted to low temperatures (0°C), w ith or without a pre-moderate acclimatization treatment period of (8°C). Our results suggest the existence of an acclimation response in Ilex paraguariensis, similar to that described in other species of the same temperature. Research Article Evaluation of cold response in Ilex paraguariensis Sandonaid Andrei Geisler1, Carina Francisca Argüelles2 and Cristian Antonio Rojas1* 1Federal University of Latin American Integration, Foz do Iguaçu 85866-000, Brazil 2General Applied Genetics Research Group (GIGA), IBS Nodo Posadas, UNaM CONICET, Posadas, Misiones, Argentina *Address for Correspondence: Cristian Antonio Rojas, Federal University of Latin American Integration, Foz do Iguaçu 85866-000, Brazil, Email: cristian.rojas@unila.edu.br Submitted: 21 December 2018 Approved: 11 March 2019 Published: 12 March 2019 Copyright: © 2019 Geisler SA, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited