Seed Germination and Vigor

Abstract

Germination vigor is driven by the ability of the plant embryo, embedded within the seed, to resume its metabolic activity in a coordinated and sequential manner. Studies using "-omics" approaches support the finding that a main contributor of seed germination success is the quality of the messenger RNAs stored during embryo maturation on the mother plant. In addition, proteostasis and DNA integrity play a major role in the germination phenotype. Because of its pivotal role in cell metabolism and its close relationships with hormone signaling pathways regulating seed germination, the sulfur amino acid metabolism pathway represents a key biochemical determinant of the commitment of the seed to initiate its development toward germination. This review highlights that germination vigor depends on multiple biochemical and molecular variables. Their characterization is expected to deliver new markers of seed quality that can be used in breeding programs and/or in biotechnological approaches to improve crop yields.

Control of early seedling development by BES1/TPL/HDA19-mediated epigenetic regulation of ABI3

“…The regulation of plant seed germination and young seedling establishment has both ecological and economic importance 4 . Diverse environmental factors, including light quality, water availability and temperature, are co-ordinately integrated into hormonal regulatory pathways that control early seedling development.…”

“…A mutation of E-box motifs on either 1 or 6 regions could not block the bes1-D-mediated repression of pABI3-LUC activity 4 , but double mutations of the E-box motifs on both 1 and 6 regions (pABI3m-LUC) abolished the repression of the ABI3 promoter activity by bes1-D (Supplementary Fig. 10a).…”

“…Owing to high vulnerability to a vast array of stresses in early seedling developmental processes, multiple environmental and intrinsic signalling factors are intricately integrated to finely control these developmental processes. The signalling networks that integrate brassinosteroids (BRs), gibberellin (GA), abscisic acid (ABA) and light signals are important factors in the regulation of seed development, dormancy, germination and post-germinative developmental processes [1][2][3][4] . ABA plays important regulatory roles in maintaining seed dormancy and early seedling developmental arrest checkpoints 5 .…”

“…The key roles of GA and light signalling in attenuating the ABA responses during early seedling development have long been known 4 , and recent studies have revealed the essential functions of BR signalling pathways in the regulation of GA-and light-mediated plant development 1,3 . Exogenous BR application rescued the low germination phenotype of GA-related mutants and BR-defective mutants are hypersensitive to ABA during early seedling development and stomatal closure [14][15][16] .…”

Assessment of Rice Associated Bacterial Ability to Enhance Rice Seed Germination and Rice Growth Promotion

“…Rice seed priming with plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB), as an alternative for chemicals, can be considered to enhance seed germination, vigor index and germination speed 11 . Because germination stage is the most susceptible period in rice life cycle 39 . Rice growth promotion can be achieved by beneficial bacteria but the exact mechanism by which PGPB induce their effects is not clearly understood, however, several hypotheses such as producing phytohormones, activation of phosphate solubilization and promotion of the mineral nutrient uptake are usually considered to be involved 8,14,26,29 .…”