Loss of Arabidopsis thaliana Seed Dormancy is Associated with Increased Accumulation of the GID1 GA Hormone Receptors

Dormancy prevents seeds from germinating under favorable conditions until they have experienced dormancy-breaking conditions, such as after-ripening through a period of dry storage or cold imbibition. Abscisic acid (ABA) hormone signaling establishes and maintains seed dormancy, whereas gibberellin (GA) signaling stimulates germination. ABA levels decrease and GA levels increase with after-ripening and cold stratification. However, increasing GA sensitivity may also be critical to dormancy loss since increasing seed GA levels are detectable only with long periods of after-ripening and imbibition. After-ripening and cold stratification act additively to enhance GA hormone sensitivity in ga1-3 seeds that cannot synthesize GA. Since the overexpression of the GA receptor GID1 (GIBBERELLIN-INSENSITIVE DWARF1) enhanced this dormancy loss, and because gid1a gid1b gid1c triple mutants show decreased germination, the effects of dormancy-breaking treatments on GID1 mRNA and protein accumulation were examined. Partial after-ripening resulted in increased GID1b, but not GID1a or GID1c mRNA levels. Cold imbibition stimulated the accumulation of all three GID1 transcripts, but resulted in no increase in GA sensitivity during ga1-3 seed germination unless seeds were also partially after-ripened. This is probably because after-ripening was needed to enhance GID1 protein accumulation, independently of transcript abundance. The rise in GID1b transcript with after-ripening was not associated wi...
Source: Plant and Cell Physiology - Category: Cytology Authors: Tags: Regular Papers Source Type: research