Regulation of gene expression at low temperature: role of cold-inducible promoters.

Psychrophilic micro-organisms are the most dominant flora in cold habitats. Their unique ability to survive and multiply at low temperatures (<5 degrees C) is based on their ability to modulate the rigidity of the membrane, to transcribe, to translate and to catalyse biochemical reactions at low temperature. A number of genes are known to be upregulated during growth at low temperature and cold-inducible promoters are known to regulate the expression of genes at low temperature. In this review, we attempted to compile promoter sequences of genes that are cold-inducible so as to identify similarities and to compare the distinct features of each type of promoter when microbes are grown in the cold.