It is obvious that the activation of kinase activity is rapid and transient, reaching a maximum at about 30 minutes of chilling temperature treatment. Interestingly, such a response was also obtained in the leaves where low temperature was not experienced (results are not shown), indicating that somehow low temperature signalling might have been transferred from root to leaves. As suggested by Ann et al. (1999), low temperature resistant characteristics might be related to the ability of maintaining the water balance in plants and hence we have measured the actual water transport by recording sap flow through main stems of both cucumber and figleaf gourd plants (Fig. 3)