Finch H., Allen P., Meyer S. (2013): Exposure to low water potentials and seed dormancy favour the fungus in the Pyrenophora semeniperda–Bromus tectorum pathosystem. Plant Protect. Sci., 49 (Special Issue): S15–S20. In semi-arid regions of the United States, Pyrenophora semeniperda kills seeds of the winter annual Bromus tectorum. We report on pathosystem outcomes under manipulated water potent...

The germination of seeds of Xanthium pensylvanicum Wallr. occurs in 2 phases, an initial passive phase of water uptake followed by an active phase of growth. These 2 phases have been separated experimentally, and shown to occur similarly in isolated cotyledons and embryonic axes. Measurements of the physical thrust generated by the entire seed and its separate components of cotyledon and axis r...

The importance of translational regulation during Arabidopsis seed germination has been shown previously. Here the role of transcriptional and translational regulation during seed imbibition of the very dormant DELAY OF GERMINATION 1 (DOG1) near-isogenic line was investigated. Polysome profiling was performed on dormant and after-ripened seeds imbibed for 6 and 24 h in water and in the transcri...

Seed dormancy is one of the adaptive responses in the plant life cycle and an important agronomic trait. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) release seed dormancy and promote seed germination in several cereal crops; however, the key regulatory mechanism of ROS-mediated seed dormancy and germination remains controversial. Here, we focused on the relationship between hydrogen peroxide (a ROS) and absc...

Freshly harvested barley seeds are considered as dormant since they do not germinate at temperatures above 20 degrees C. This dormancy is broken during dry storage. Molecular regulation of dormancy was investigated using cDNA-AFLP to identify transcripts differentially expressed in dormant and non-dormant embryos. Transcript patterns in embryos from dry dormant and non-dormant seeds and from bo...

Dormancy is a complex evolutionary trait that temporally prevents seed germination, thus allowing seedling growth at a favorable season. High-throughput analyses of transcriptomes have led to significant progress in understanding the molecular regulation of this process, but the role of posttranscriptional mechanisms has received little attention. In this work, we have studied the dynamics of m...

The time course of protein synthesis in embryos of dormant and afterripened Agrostemma githago seeds was studied. In embryos of afterripened geminating seeds, protein synthesis increased in three successive stages: (a) concurrent with swelling; (b) during the lag phase between the completion of water uptake and the onset of growth; and (c) immediately after protrusion through the seed coat. Emb...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS α-Amylase in grass caryopses (seeds) is usually expressed upon commencement of germination and is rarely seen in dry, mature seeds. A heat-stable α-amylase activity was unexpectedly selected for expression in dry annual ryegrass (Lolium rigidum) seeds during targeted selection for low primary dormancy. The aim of this study was to characterize this constitutive activity bioc...

Dormant seeds in permanent soil seed banks change their germination probability with age, but little is known about the causes of this behavior. Since current adaptive models do not consider the age structure of the seed bank, the sole explanation is that changes in germination probability with age are due to passive accidental factors or to decay of seeds. Here we present a theory, which shows...