ABSTRACT
Plasma membrane as a site of freezing injury was recognized as early as 1912. However, the nature of the injury to the membrane at a more fundamental level has been investigated. Using the recent methods for purifying the plant plasma membrane have obtained pure plasma membrane preparations and investigated the alterations in the properties of plasma membrane ATPase in potato species due to freeze-thaw injury and cold acclimation. The chapter presents a background information and summarizes the preliminary results supporting the hypothesis that freeze-thaw injury results in alteration of the active transport properties of the cell membrane. Subsequent to the proposal of the hypothesis by J. P. Palta and co-workers, a few groups have independently investigated the plasma membrane ATPase in relation to freezing injury and cold acclimation. The following account gives a critical summary of the information available and also summarizes the results of our work in tuber-bearing Solanum species.
