Differential effects of cold acclimation and abscisic acid on free amino acid composition in wheat

▶ Cold acclimation induces the accumulation of most of the amino acids, while ABA had a significant effect only on Asn. ▶ The cold-induced changes in free amino acid levels are probably not mediated by ABA. ▶ Except for Pro, cold- or ABA-induced changes in the amino acid levels do not correlate with the freezing tolerance of the examined wheat genotypes and are not affected by chromosome 5A on which the most important freezing tolerance genes are localized.