Project description:ZFP3, a nuclear C2H2 zinc finger protein acts as a negative regulator of ABA- suppressed germination. Regulated over-expression of ZFP3 and closely related ZFP1, ZFP4, ZFP6 and ZFP7 confers ABA insensitivity to seed germination while the zfp3,zfp4 double mutant displays enhanced ABA susceptibility. Reduced expression of a large set of ABA-induced genes such as RAB18 and transcription factors ABI3, ABI4, ABI5 and RGL2 in ZFP3ox seedling suggests that ZFP3 indeed negatively regulates ABA signaling. Analysis of ZFP3ox plants revealed multiple phenotypic alterations such as semidwarf growth habit, defects in fertility and enhanced sensitivity of hypocotyl elongation to red but not to far-red or blue light. Analysis of genetic interactions with phytochrome and abi mutants suggested that ZFP3 amplifies red light signals perceived by photoreceptors other than phyB, and controlled by ABI5 downstream of ZFP3. Comparison of ZFP3 overexpressing and wild type Arabidopsis seedlings
Project description:ZFP3, a nuclear C2H2 zinc finger protein acts as a negative regulator of ABA- suppressed germination. Regulated over-expression of ZFP3 and closely related ZFP1, ZFP4, ZFP6 and ZFP7 confers ABA insensitivity to seed germination while the zfp3,zfp4 double mutant displays enhanced ABA susceptibility. Reduced expression of a large set of ABA-induced genes such as RAB18 and transcription factors ABI3, ABI4, ABI5 and RGL2 in ZFP3ox seedling suggests that ZFP3 indeed negatively regulates ABA signaling. Analysis of ZFP3ox plants revealed multiple phenotypic alterations such as semidwarf growth habit, defects in fertility and enhanced sensitivity of hypocotyl elongation to red but not to far-red or blue light. Analysis of genetic interactions with phytochrome and abi mutants suggested that ZFP3 amplifies red light signals perceived by photoreceptors other than phyB, and controlled by ABI5 downstream of ZFP3.
Project description:Seed germination is a major step of plant growth and development. It is critical for species competition and spreading capacity in ecosystems. In agrosystems, it eventually impacts crop growth and yield. To prevent unappropriated germination under environmental conditions that do not guarantee the establishment of a robust plantlet, seeds from temperate species are generally dormant at maturity. Dormancy is a physiological mechanism that blocks seed germination even under favorable conditions and dormancy release is therefore required prior to germination [1]. A range of environmental (e.g. temperature, light, oxygen availability) and endogenous (e.g. hormonal) signals regulate these processes and germination completion, i.e. the early emergence of embryo radicle from seed envelope, can be achieved only when promoting mechanisms overcome inhibiting processes [2]. In that sense, the balance between the two antagonistic hormones abscisic acid (ABA) and gibberellins (GA), that inhibit and stimulate seed germination, respectively, promotes either dormancy (high ABA and low GA contents) or germination (low ABA and high GA contents) [3]
Project description:Wheat seed germination directly affects wheat yield and quality. The wheat grains mainly include embryo and endosperm, and both play important roles in seed germination, seedling survival and subsequent vegetative growth. ABA can positively regulate dormancy induction and then negatively regulates seed germination at low concentrations. H2O2 treatment with low concentration can promote seed germination of cereal plants. Although various transcriptomics and proteomics approaches have been used to investigate the seed germination mechanisms and response to various abiotic stresses in different plant species, an integrative transcriptome analysis of wheat embryo and endosperm response to ABA and H2O2 stresses has not reported so far. We used the elite Chinese bread wheat cultivar Zhenmai 9023 as material and performed the first comparative transcriptome microarray analysis between embryo and endosperm response to ABA and H2O2 treatments during seed germination using the GeneChip® Wheat Genome Array Wheat seed germination includes a great amount of regulated genes which belong to many functional groups. ABA/H2O2 can repress/promote seed germination through coordinated regulating related genes expression. Our results provide new insights into the transcriptional regulation mechanisms of embryo and endosperm response to ABA and H2O2 treatments during seed germination
Project description:Phytohormones play crucial roles in regulating many aspects of plant development. Although much has been learned about the effects of individual hormones, cross-talk between and integration of different hormonal signals are still not well understood. We present a study of MINI ZINC FINGER 1 (MIF1), a putative zinc finger protein from Arabidopsis, and suggest that it may be involved in integrating signals from multiple hormones. MIF1 homologs are highly conserved among seed plants, each characterized by a very short sequence containing a central putative zinc finger domain. Constitutive overexpression of MIF1 caused dramatic developmental defects, including dwarfism, reduced apical dominance, extreme longevity, dark-green leaves, altered flower morphology, poor fertility, reduced hypocotyl length, spoon-like cotyledons, reduced root growth, and ectopic root hairs on hypocotyls and cotyledons. In addition, 35S::MIF1 seedlings underwent constitutive photomorphogenesis in the dark, with root growth similar to that in the light. Furthermore, 35S::MIF1 seedlings were demonstrated to be non-responsive to gibberellin (GA) for cell elongation, hypersensitive to the GA synthesis inhibitor paclobutrazol (PAC) and abscisic acid (ABA), and hyposensitive to auxin, brassinosteroid and cytokinin, but normally responsive to ethylene. The de-etiolation defect could not be rescued by the hormones tested. Consistent with these observations, genome-scale expression profiling revealed that 35S::MIF1 seedlings exhibited decreased expression of genes involved in GA, auxin and brassinosteroid signaling as well as cell elongation/expansion, and increased expression of ABA-responsive genes. We propose that MIF1, or the protein(s) with which MIF1 interacts, is involved in mediating the control of plant development by multiple hormones. Experiment Overall Design: The experiment was designed to compared expression profiles of wild type (vector transformed Col) and 35S::MIF1 seedlings grown in the dark or white light. Twelve affymetrix ATH1 arrays were used for three biological replicates, six for comparison of light-grown seedlings and the other six for dark-grown seedlings. Wild-type seedlings were from three independent vector transformant lines(#1, #4 and #7). For the 35S::MIF1 transgenic seedlings, MIF1OE#124 was used for the first and second replicates, and MIF1OE#127 was used for the third replicate.
Project description:The control of seed germination and seed dormancy are critical for the successful propagation of plant species, and are important agricultural traits. Seed germination is tightly controlled by the balance of gibberellin (GA) and abscisic acid (ABA), and is influenced by environmental factors. The COP9 Signalosome (CSN) is a conserved multi-subunit protein complex that is best known as a regulator of the Cullin-RING family of ubiquitin E3 ligases (CRLs). Multiple viable mutants of the CSN showed poor germination, except for csn5b-1. Detailed analyses showed that csn1-10 has a stronger seed dormancy, while csn5a-1 mutants exhibit retarded seed germination in addition to hyperdormancy. Both csn5a-1 and csn1-10 plants show defects in the timely removal of the germination inhibitors: RGL2, a repressor of GA signaling, and ABI5, an effector of ABA responses. We provide genetic evidence to demonstrate that the germination phenotype of csn1-10 is caused by over-accumulation of RGL2, a substrate of the SCF (CRL1) ubiquitin E3 ligase, while the csn5a-1 phenotype is caused by over-accumulation of RGL2 as well as ABI5. The genetic data are consistent with the hypothesis that CSN5A regulates ABI5 by a mechanism that may not involve CSN1. Transcriptome analyses suggest that CSN1 has a more prominent role than CSN5A during seed maturation, but CSN5A plays a more important role than CSN1 during seed germination, further supporting the functional distinction of these two CSN genes. Our study delineates the molecular targets of the CSN complex in seed germination, and reveals that CSN5 has additional functions in regulating ABI5, thus the ABA signaling pathway.
Project description:Phytohormones play crucial roles in regulating many aspects of plant development. Although much has been learned about the effects of individual hormones, cross-talk between and integration of different hormonal signals are still not well understood. We present a study of MINI ZINC FINGER 1 (MIF1), a putative zinc finger protein from Arabidopsis, and suggest that it may be involved in integrating signals from multiple hormones. MIF1 homologs are highly conserved among seed plants, each characterized by a very short sequence containing a central putative zinc finger domain. Constitutive overexpression of MIF1 caused dramatic developmental defects, including dwarfism, reduced apical dominance, extreme longevity, dark-green leaves, altered flower morphology, poor fertility, reduced hypocotyl length, spoon-like cotyledons, reduced root growth, and ectopic root hairs on hypocotyls and cotyledons. In addition, 35S::MIF1 seedlings underwent constitutive photomorphogenesis in the dark, with root growth similar to that in the light. Furthermore, 35S::MIF1 seedlings were demonstrated to be non-responsive to gibberellin (GA) for cell elongation, hypersensitive to the GA synthesis inhibitor paclobutrazol (PAC) and abscisic acid (ABA), and hyposensitive to auxin, brassinosteroid and cytokinin, but normally responsive to ethylene. The de-etiolation defect could not be rescued by the hormones tested. Consistent with these observations, genome-scale expression profiling revealed that 35S::MIF1 seedlings exhibited decreased expression of genes involved in GA, auxin and brassinosteroid signaling as well as cell elongation/expansion, and increased expression of ABA-responsive genes. We propose that MIF1, or the protein(s) with which MIF1 interacts, is involved in mediating the control of plant development by multiple hormones.
Project description:Abscisic acid (ABA) regulates plant development and adaptation to environmental conditions. The ABA biosynthesis pathway in plants has been thoroughly elucidated; however, very few transcription factors directly regulating the expression of ABA biosynthetic genes have been identified. Here we show that the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) zinc finger transcription factor SlZFP2, which is mainly expressed in developing fruits and axillary buds, negatively regulates ABA biosynthesis. Overexpression of SlZFP2 resulted in multiple phenotypic changes, including more branches, early flowering, delayed fruit ripening, lighter seeds and faster seed germination, whereas gene silencing by RNA interference (RNAi) caused poor fruit set and inhibited seed germination. Gene expression analysis showed that SlZFP2 represses ABA biosynthesis mainly through downregulation of the ABA biosynthetic genes SITIENS (SIT), FLACCA (FLC) and aldehyde oxidase SlAO1. SlZFP2 delays the onset of ripening through suppression of the ripening regulator COLORLESS NON-RIPENING (CNR). Using bacterial one hybrid screening and a selected amplification and binding assay we identified the (A/T)(G/C)TT repeat as the core binding sequence of SlZFP2. We further identified a large number of tomato genes containing putative SlZFP2 binding sites in their promoter regions. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and electrophoretic mobility shift assays demonstrated that SIT, FLC and SlAO1 are direct targets of SlZFP2 through binding to their promoter regions. We propose that SlZFP2 represents a novel negative regulator for fine tuning ABA biosynthesis during fruit development and provides a potentially valuable tool for dissecting the role of ABA in fruit ripening.To gain further insight on transcriptome changes regulated by SlZFP2, we sequenced a representative SlZFP2 RNAi line in LA1589 background and its nontransgenic sibling (WT) on a Miseq platform. The RNAi line 207 showed defected fruit set and ABA biosynthesis were chosen for profiling gene expression via RNA sequencing. Its nontransgenic sibling was served as controls. Three biological replicates were conducted.
Project description:Wheat seed germination directly affects wheat yield and quality. The wheat grains mainly include embryo and endosperm, and both play important roles in seed germination, seedling survival and subsequent vegetative growth. ABA can positively regulate dormancy induction and then negatively regulates seed germination at low concentrations. H2O2 treatment with low concentration can promote seed germination of cereal plants. Although various transcriptomics and proteomics approaches have been used to investigate the seed germination mechanisms and response to various abiotic stresses in different plant species, an integrative transcriptome analysis of wheat embryo and endosperm response to ABA and H2O2 stresses has not reported so far. We used the elite Chinese bread wheat cultivar Zhenmai 9023 as material and performed the first comparative transcriptome microarray analysis between embryo and endosperm response to ABA and H2O2 treatments during seed germination using the GeneChip® Wheat Genome Array Wheat seed germination includes a great amount of regulated genes which belong to many functional groups. ABA/H2O2 can repress/promote seed germination through coordinated regulating related genes expression. Our results provide new insights into the transcriptional regulation mechanisms of embryo and endosperm response to ABA and H2O2 treatments during seed germination The six groups including embryo and endosperm response to pure water (CK), ABA and H2O2 were havested respectively, which were CK_embryo (CKem), CK_endosperm (CKe), ABA_embryo (ABAem), ABA_endosperm (ABAe), H2O2_embryo (H2O2em), H2O2_endosperm (H2O2e). Three independent experiments were performed for each group.
Project description:Seed maturation, dormancy and germination are distinct physiological processes. Transition from maturation to dormancy, and from dormancy into germination are not only critical developmental phases in the plant life cycle but are also important agricultural traits. These developmental processes and their phase transitions are fine determined and coordinately regulated by genetic makeup and environmental cues. SCARECROW-LIKE15 (SCL15) has been demonstrated to be essential for repressing the seed maturation programme in vegetative tissues (Gao et al., Nat Commun, 2015, 6:7243). Here we report that SCL15 is also important for seed dormancy maintenance, germination timing and seed vigor performance based on the effects of SCL15 mutation on plant germination, growth and reproduction when compared with wild type Arabidopsis and over-expression lines 35S:SCL15 and Napin:SCL15. Seed dormancy is enhanced by the mutation of SCL15 in a GA signaling dependent way, indicating that SCL15 plays a negative role for primary dormancy release. Seed germination is positively regulated by SCL15 through interaction with ABA, GA and auxin signaling. SCL15 acts as positive regulator of seed vigor and effect of SCL15 mRNA abundance on seed reserve accumulation and seed development during late embryogenesis may contribute to the seed vigor performance.