“…Ethylene has been found to play a key role in the release of coat-imposed seed dormancy and the promotion of seed germination by endosperm cap weakening and endosperm rupture (Kepczynski and Kepczynska, 1997;Linkies et al, 2009). The main role of ethylene could be the promotion of radial cell expansion in the embryonic hypocotyl, decreased seed base water potential, and enhanced seed respiration or activity of cell wall hydrolases in the endosperm cap (Kucera et al, 2005;Matilla and Matilla-Vázquez, 2008). In our work, several downstream ethylene-responsive genes, including the cell wall-modifying proteins b-1,3-glucanase and expansin, have been found to be upregulated in the snl1 snl2-1 double mutant (Table 1; see Supplemental Figure 8 online), which further indicates that ethylene functions in the regulation of seed dormancy mediated by SNL1 and SNL2.…”