The study examined how DNA methylation influences cold stress priming in Arabidopsis thaliana, revealing that primed plants exhibit distinct gene expression and methylation patterns compared to non-primed plants. DNA methylation mutants, especially met1 lacking CG methylation, showed altered cold memory and misregulation of the CBF gene cluster, indicating that methylation ensures transcriptional precision during stress recall.

The authors used a bottom‑up thermodynamic modelling framework to investigate how plants decode calcium signals, starting from Ca2+ binding to EF‑hand proteins and extending to higher‑order decoding modules. They identified six universal Ca2+-decoding modules that can explain variations in calcium sensitivity among kinases and provide a theoretical basis for interpreting calcium signal amplitude and frequency in plant cells.

The study identifies the histone methyltransferase SDG26 as a positive regulator of cold stress responses in Arabidopsis thaliana, showing that it is induced by cold and promotes expression of CBF‑COR genes via H3K36me3 deposition. Loss of SDG26 enhances freezing tolerance but compromises drought tolerance by affecting ABA biosynthesis and stomatal closure, indicating that SDG26 integrates ABA‑dependent and independent pathways to balance cold acclimation with water conservation.