Carbon Monoxide Signal Breaks Primary Seed Dormancy by Transcriptional
Silence of DOG1 in Arabidopsis thaliana

AbstractDormancy has evolved in plants to restrict germination to favourable growth seasons. Seeds from most crop plants have low dormancy levels due to selection for immediate germination during domestication. Seed dormancy is usually not completely lost and low levels are required to maintain sufficient seed quality.Brassica napuscultivars show low levels of primary seed dormancy. However,B. napusseeds are prone to the induction of secondary dormancy, which can lead to the occurrence of volunteers in the field in subsequent years after cultivation. TheDELAY OF GERMINATION 1(DOG1) gene has been identified as a major dormancy gene in the model plantArabidopsis thaliana.DOG1is a conserved gene and has been shown to be required for seed dormancy in various monocot and dicot plant species. We have identified threeB. napusgenes with high homology toAtDOG1, which we namedBnaA.DOG1.a,BnaC.DOG1.aandBnaC.DOG1.b. The transcripts of these genes could only be detected in seeds and showed a similar expression pattern during seed maturation asAtDOG1. In addition, theBnaDOG1genes showed enhanced transcript levels after the induction of secondary dormancy. These results suggest a role forDOG1in the induction of secondary dormancy inB. napus.

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The maternal environment interacts with genetic variation in regulating seed dormancy in Arabidopsis thaliana

10.1101/117879 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Envel Kerdaffrec ◽

Magnus Nordborg

Keyword(s):

Arabidopsis Thaliana ◽

Association Study ◽

Seed Dormancy ◽

Genome Wide Association Study ◽

Seed Maturation ◽

Genome Wide Association ◽

Maternal Environment ◽

Genome Wide ◽

A Genome ◽

Wide Range

AbstractSeed dormancy is a complex adaptive trait that controls the timing of seed germination, one of the major fitness components in many plant species. Despite being highly heritable, seed dormancy is extremely plastic and influenced by a wide range of environmental cues. Here, using a set of 92 Arabidopsis thaliana lines from Sweden, we investigate the effect of seed maturation temperature on dormancy variation at the population level. The response to temperature differs dramatically between lines, demonstrating that genotype and the maternal environment interact in controlling the trait. By performing a genome-wide association study (GWAS), we identified several candidate genes that could account for this plasticity, two of which are involved in the photoinduction of germination. Altogether, our results provide insight into both the molecular mechanisms and the evolution of dormancy plasticity, and can serve to improve our understanding of environmentally dependent life-history transitions.HighlightThe effect of low seed-maturation temperatures on seed dormancy is highly variable in Arabidopsis thaliana accessions from Sweden, denoting strong genotype-environment interactions, and a genome-wide association study identified compelling candidates that could account for this plasticity.

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