Complex temperature profiles recorded through antisense co-transcriptional sensitivity

COOLAIR co-transcriptional dynamics in vernalization are temperature-profile sensitive: constant cold changes RNA polymerase II processivity and RNA processing, while sub-freezing fluctuations trigger premature termination linked to reduced FLC transcription.

• Why it matters: Plants must integrate fluctuating winter temperatures to time development, but how COOLAIR transcriptional behavior across different timescales encodes these natural temperature facets was unclear.
• What they did: They compared constant cold versus fluctuating below-freezing conditions at the same mean temperature, measuring COOLAIR RNA polymerase II processivity, splicing, polyadenylation site choice, and premature termination, then used high-resolution chromatin contact mapping and chromatin marks.
• The result: Premature COOLAIR termination altered local chromatin topology, enhancing FLC promoter–gene body contacts, coinciding with H3K4me1 loss and reduced FLC transcription, implying COOLAIR acts as a thermosensory antenna under natural winter conditions.

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