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Single seeds exhibit transcriptional heterogeneity during secondary dormancy induction

ABSTRACT: Seeds are highly resilient to the external environment, which allow plants to persist in unpredictable and unfavorable conditions. Some plant species have adopted a bet-hedging strategy to germinate a variable fraction of seeds in any given condition, and this could be explained by population-based threshold models. Here, in the model plant Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) we induced secondary dormancy to address the transcriptional heterogeneity among seeds that leads to binary germination/non-germination outcomes. We developed a single seed RNA-seq strategy that allowed us to observe a reduction in seed transcriptional heterogeneity as seeds enter stress conditions, followed by an increase during recovery. We identified groups of genes whose expression showed a specific pattern through a time course and used these groups to position the individual seeds along the transcriptional gradient of germination competence. In agreement, transcriptomes of dormancy-deficient seeds (mutant of DELAY OF GERMINATION 1 gene) showed a shift towards higher values of the germination competence index. Interestingly, a significant fraction of genes with variable expression encoded translation-related factors. In summary, interrogating hundreds of single seed transcriptomes during secondary dormancy-inducing treatment revealed variability among the transcriptomes that could result from the distribution of population-based sensitivity thresholds. Our results also showed that single seed RNA-seq is the method of choice for analyzing seed bet-hedging-related phenomena.

ORGANISM(S): Arabidopsis thaliana

PROVIDER: GSE185033 | GEO | 2022/06/27

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Plant embryos can survive years in a desiccated, quiescent state within seeds. In many species, seeds are dormant and unable to germinate at maturity. They acquire the capacity to germinate through a period of dry storage called after-ripening (AR), a biological process that occurs at 5-15% moisture when most metabolic processes cease. Because stored transcripts will be among the first proteins translated upon water uptake, they likely impact germination potential. Transcriptome changes associated with the increased seed dormancy of the GA-insensitive sly1-2 mutant, and with dormancy loss through sly1-2 after-ripening or constitutive overexpression of the GA receptor (GID1b) were characterized in dry seeds. This experiment used the same seed batches as a previous experiment (E-MTAB-4782) to characterize transcriptional changes associated with the increased seed dormancy and dormancy loss in imbibing seeds. The SLY1 gene encodes the F-box subunit of an SCF E3 ubiquitin ligase needed for GA-triggered proteolysis of DELLA repressors of seed germination. In the sly1-2 mutant, GA-directed DELLA proteolysis cannot occur leading to DELLA protein accumulation and increased dormancy. sly1-2 mutant seeds are fully dormant at 2 weeks of dry storage (0% germination), but germinate well with very long after-ripening (51% germination after 19 months). sly1-2 seed germination can also be rescued by overexpression of the GA receptor, GA-INSENSITIVE DWARF1b (GID1b-OE), which resulted in 74% germination at 2 weeks of dry storage. In this experiment, we sampled dry seeds of wild-type Ler at 2 weeks of dry storage (non-dormant), dormant sly1-2 (2 weeks of dry storage; sly1-2(D)), long after-ripened sly1-2 (non-dormant, 19 months of dry storage; sly1-2(AR)), and sly1-2 GID1b-OE (non-dormant, 2 weeks of dry storage). This experimental design allowed comparison between these transcriptomes in dry seeds to determine if dry seed stored mRNA differences contribute to the dormancy phenotypes observed once seeds are imbibed. Seeds for Ler wt, sly1-2(D), and sly1-2 GID1b-OE were grown alongside each other under the same conditions and after-ripened for 2 weeks. Seeds from sly1-2(AR) were grown under the same conditions in advance of the other lines to allow for the long after-ripening requirement. RNA was extracted using a phenol-chloroform-based extraction from three biological replicates per treatment.

Project description:Seed dormancy is the inability for seeds to germinate even under favorable conditions. In the Arabidopsis Landsberg erecta (Ler) ecotype, 2 weeks of dry storage, called after-ripening, is sufficient to relieve seed dormancy. Such seed is referred to as after-ripened (AR) and has a high rate of germination when imbibed. While widespread transcriptome changes have been previously observed with seed dormancy loss, this experiment was designed to characterize transcriptional changes associated with the increased seed dormancy and dormancy loss of the gibberellin (GA) hormone-insensitive sleepy1-2 (sly1-2) mutant. The SLY1 gene encodes the F-box subunit of an SCF E3 ubiquitin ligase needed for GA-triggered proteolysis of DELLA repressors of seed germination. In the sly1-2 mutant, GA-directed DELLA proteolysis cannot occur leading to DELLA protein accumulation and increased dormancy. sly1-2 mutant seeds are fully dormant at 2 weeks of dry storage (0% germination), but germinate well with very long after-ripening (51% germination after 19 months). sly1-2 seed germination can also be rescued by overexpression of the GA receptor, GA-INSENSITIVE DWARF1b (GID1b-OE), which resulted in 74% germination at 2 weeks of dry storage. In this experiment, we compared seeds of wild-type Ler at 2 weeks of dry storage (non-dormant), dormant sly1-2 (2 weeks of dry storage; sly1-2(D)), long after-ripened sly1-2 (non-dormant, 19 months of dry storage; sly1-2(AR)), and sly1-2 GID1b-OE (non-dormant, 2 weeks of dry storage). Samples were collected at two imbibition timepoints: 1) a 0h timepoint after 4 days at 4°C, and 2) a 12h timepoint after 4 days at 4°C followed by 12 hours in the light at 22°C. These timepoints were selected to capture the transcriptomes at an early and late time in Phase II of imbibition. Using this experimental design we were able to determine transcriptome differences associated with seed dormancy in the sly1-2 mutation (Ler wt vs sly1-2(D)), and changes associated with sly1-2 dormancy loss through dry after-ripening (sly1-2(AR) vs sly1-2(D)) or through GID1b-overexpression (sly1-2 GID1b-OE vs sly1-2(D)). Seeds for Ler wt, sly1-2(D), and sly1-2 GID1b-OE were grown alongside each other under the same conditions and after-ripened for 2 weeks. Seeds from sly1-2(AR) were grown under the same conditions in advance of the other lines to allow for the long after-ripening requirement. RNA was extracted using a phenol-chloroform-based extraction from three biological replicates per treatment.

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Single seeds exhibit transcriptional heterogeneity during secondary dormancy induction

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