Mutations Affecting Induction of Glycolytic and Fermentative Genes during Germination and Environmental Stresses in Arabidopsis

Expression of the alcohol dehydrogenase gene ( ADH ) of Arabidopsis is known to be induced by environmental stresses and regulated developmentally. We used a negative-selection approach to isolate mutants that were defective in regulating the expression of the ADH gene during seed germination; we then characterized three recessive mutants, aar 1–1, aar 1–2, and aar 2–1, which belong to two complementation groups. In addition to their defects during seed germination, mutations in the AAR 1 and AAR 2 genes also affected anoxic and hypoxic induction of ADH and other glycolytic genes in mature plants. The aar 1 and aar 2 mutants were also defective in responding to cold and osmotic stress. The two allelic mutants aar 1–1and aar 1–2 exhibited different phenotypes under cold and osmotic stresses. Based on our results we propose that these mutants are defective in a late step of the signaling pathways that lead to increased expression of the ADH gene and glycolytic genes.