salinity delays seed germination by reducing GA biosynthesis. 7 ABA is a major plant growth hormone mediating plant responses to high salinity, suggesting that the salt effects on seed germination would depends on this growth hormone. We observed that the GA synthetic enzyme gene GA3ox1 is significantly repressed by high salinity. In particular, the salt repression of GA3ox1 is independent of ABA. The GA3ox1 transcription is efficiently repressed by high salinity even in the ABA-deficient aba3-1 mutant to a level comparable to that observed in control plants treated with high salt. These observations support that an ABA-independent salt signaling pathway is also involved in the GA regulation of seed germination.NTL8 is a membrane-bound NAC transcription factor in Arabidopsis. 8 It is unique among the NTL members in that the NTL8 transcription is induced by high salinity specifically in the cold-imbibed seed. While germination of control seeds is greatly reduced in the presence of high salt, that of the ntl8-1 mutant seeds is resistant to high salinity. In contrast, seeds of the transgenic plants overexpressing an active NTL8 form (NTL8ΔC) germinated very poorly under high salt conditions, indicating that NTL8 plays a role in the salt regulation of seed germination. However, the NTL8 transcription is unaffected by ABA, and germination of the ntl8-1 knockout mutant seeds is reduced by ABA to a degree similar to that of control seeds under the same conditions. It is therefore evident that NTL8-mediated salt signaling is independent of ABA.It is notable that NTL8-mediated salt regulation of seed germination is intimately related to GA signaling. RGL2 is one of the DELLA proteins that negatively regulate GA signals. 9 When GA biosynthesis is induced, the RGL2 protein is degraded via the ubiquitin-dependent degradation pathway, causing promotion of seed germination. 10 The Arabidopsis GA biosynthetic mutant, ga1-3, does not germinate in the absence of exogenously applied GA, indicating that GA is essential for seed germination. In contrast, the ga1-3 rgl2 double mutant seeds germinate nearly 100% even in the absence of exogenous GA application, indicating that RGL2 is a negative regulator of GA function in seed germination. 9 However, recent studies strongly support that there would be additional negative regulators other than RGL2 in GA signaling. 11,12 NTL8 is dramatically induced in the imbibed seed, and its induction is further elevated by cold treatment. However, the NTL8 induction decreases to a basal level within 24 hours after cold imbibition. This pattern is very similar to that of RGL2. Germination of the ntl8-1 mutant seeds is nearly 100% in the presence of 100 μM paclobutrazol (PAC), an inhibitor of GA synthesis. The NTL8 protein is released from the membranes through proteolytic cleavage. We found that this activation process is triggered in the PAC-treated Seed germination initiates the postembryonic development of plants, which determines successful seedling establishment and plant propagation. It is th...