Plant mitochondria under a variety of temperature stress conditions

• Balance between mitochondrial and nuclear gene expression alters in cold and heat.
• Polyadenylation of mitochondrial transcripts is elevated in heat treatment.
• Various osmolytes and protective proteins accumulate in cold and heat.
• Mitochondrial swelling and ultrastructural disorganization occur in thermal stress.
• Photorespiratory, TCA and energy dissipating components control metabolic demands.

The biogenesis of plant mitochondria is a multistep process that depends on a concerted expression of mitochondrial and nuclear genes. The balance between different steps of this process, embracing various fluctuations in mitochondrial transcriptome and proteome, may be affected by diverse temperature treatments. A plethora of genes with altered expression during the acting of these stimuli were identified and their expression characterized, including those encoding for classical components of energy dissipating system. Selected aspects of current interest, regarding the functioning of plant mitochondria under cold and heat stresses, are highlighted.