Seed maturation: Genetic programmes and control signals

Current Opinion in Plant Biology

Volumn 2, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 33-38

  Wobus, Ulrich ^a   Weber, Hans ^a  

^a LEIBNIZ INSTITUTE OF PLANT GENETICS AND CROP PLANT RESEARCH IPK   (Germany)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

GENETIC TRANSCRIPTION; PLANT BREEDING; PLANT GENETICS; PLANT GROWTH; TRANSCRIPTION REGULATION;

ARABIDOPSIS; ZEA MAYS;

EID: 0033082512     PISSN: 13695266     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/S1369-5266(99)80007-7     Document Type: Article

References (49)

1. Harada JJ Seed maturation and control of germination. Larkins BA, Vasil IK Cellular and Molecular Biology of Plant Seed Development. 1997;545-592 Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht. Extensive and recommended review covering all aspects of seed maturation.
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4. Kaplan DR, Cooke TJ Fundamental concepts in the embryogenesis of dicotyledons: a morphological interpretation of embryo mutants. Plant Cell. 9:1997;1903-1919. This paper is well worth reading. It represents, in essence, a minority view by challenging the concept of pattern formation in plants, but also brings to mind the comparative morphological approach to embryogenesis often neglected by molecular biologists.
5. Parcy F, Valon C, Kohara A, Miséra S, Giraudat J The ABSCISIC ACID-INSENSITIVE3, FUSCA3, and LEAFY COTYLEDON1 loci act in control multiple aspects of Arabidopsis seed development. Plant Cell. 9:1997;1265-1277. In this important paper, the authors, by quantifying several developmental processes in a range of mutants, clearly show that the three genes work synergistically and not in different pathways as earlier models suggested. They also provide evidence that the abundance of ABI3 is regulated by FUS3 and LEC1. The genetic model provided can now be tested at the molecular level due to the availability of FUS3 and LEC1.
6. Giraudat J, Hauge BM, Valon C, Smalle J, Parcy F, Goodman HM Isolation of the Arabidopsis ABI3 gene by positional cloning. Plant Cell. 4:1992;1251-1261.
7. McCarty DR, Carson CB, Stinad PS, Robertson DS Molecular analysis of viviparous-1: an abscisic acid-insensitive mutant maize. Plant Cell. 1:1989;523-532.
8. Lotan T, Ohto M-A, Yee KM, West MAL, Lo R, Kwong RW, Yamagishi K, Fischer RL, Goldberg RB, Harada JJ Arabidopsis LEAFY COTYLEDON1 is sufficient to induce embryo development in vegetative cell. Cell. 93:1998;1195-1205. The authors isolated the LEC1 gene and demonstrated its major role, not only during late, but also in early embryogenesis including suspensor and endosperm development. Ectopic LEC1 expression, in contrast to ABI3, induced embryonic programmes in vegetative cells in rare cases. Homology of LEC1 to HAP3 subunit sequences of the CCAAT-box binding factor CBF is restricted to the HAP3 B-domain.
9. •]).
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11. Suzuki M, Kao CY, McCarty DR The conserved B3 domain of VIVIPAROUS1 has a cooperative DNA binding activity. Plant Cell. 9:1997;799-807. Since its isolation, VP1 has been implicated in gene regulation, but the question remained open as to whether or not the protein binds directly to DNA. Now the McCarty lab provides convincing evidence that the B3 domain of VP1 has a highly co-operative, sequence-specific DNA-binding activity in an in vitro assay. Specific binding to the Sph-motif TCCATGCAT provides a good link to the expected functions and leads to the suggestion that the B3 domain in general binds to this element (also known as the RY-motif) present in many seed protein gene promoters.
12. - phenotype in Arabidopsis. Whether this apparent discrepancy is of general importance has still to be worked out.
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15. Maity SN, de Crombrugghe B Role of the CCAAT-binding protein CBF/NF-Y in transcription. Trends Biochem Sci. 23:1998;174-178.
16. Schwarz-Sommer Z, Hue I, Huijser P, Flor PJ, Hansen R, Tetens F, Lönnig W-E, Saedler H, Sommer H Characterization of the Antirrhinum floral homeotic MADS-box gene deficiens: evidence for DNA binding and autoregulation of its persistent expression throughout flower development. EMBO J. 11:1992;251-263.
17. Wohlfarth T, Braun H, Kirik V, Kölle K, Czihal A, Tewes A, Luerssen H, Miséra S, Shutov A, Bäumlein H Regulation and evolution of seed globulin genes. J Plant Physiol. 152:1998;600-606. This symposium paper contains interesting data which have still to be published in detail. They suggest a co-operative interaction of FUS3 and ABI3 in the regulation of seed-specific promoters with the RY cis-motif as target.
18. Schultz TF, Medina J, Hill A, Quatrano RS 14-3-3 proteins are part of an abscisic acid-VIVIPAROUS1 (VP1) response complex in the Em promoter and interact with VP1 and EmbP1. Plant Cell. 10:1998;837-847. The paper provides a first and important example of a transcription complex involving VP1 and identifies members of the complex including 14-3-3 proteins which are supposed to act as mediators in protein-protein interactions involved in kinase-related steps of signal-transduction pathways.
19. Quatrano RS, Bartels D, Ho T-HD, Pagés M New insights into ABA-mediated processes. Plant Cell. 9:1997;470-475. A meeting-based review including the role of ABA in seed maturation.
20. Chern MS, Bob AJ, Bustos MM The regulator of MAT2 (ROM2) protein binds to early maturation promoters and represses PvALF-activated transcription. Plant Cell. 8:1996;305-321.
21. Chern MS, Eiben HG, Bustos MM The developmentally regulated bZIP factor ROM1 modulates transcription from lectin and storage protein genes in bean embryos. Plant J. 10:1996;135-148.
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23. •] provides the first evidence at the molecular level for different action spectra of ABI3 on the one hand and FUS3 plus LEC1 on the other.
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25. Rhode A, Van Montagu M, Boerjan W The abscisic acid-insensitive gene ABI3 is expressed during vegetative quiescence processes in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell Environ. 1998;. in press. Here, Rhode et al. show, in contrast to present conceptions, that ABI3 most probably has additional functions to those in seed development. During growth in the dark ABI3 is expressed in the seedling apex after the arrest of cell division. Concomitantly, the 2S napin seed storage protein is induced. ABI3-promoter/GUS fusion constructs are expressed in still other vegetative organs. These results - together with the observed expression of an ABI3 homologue in dormant poplar buds (A Rhode, Molecular strategies to study bud dormancy in Populus [PhD thesis]. Universiteit Gent 1998) - led the authors to conclude that ABI3 is one of several components of a molecular network underlying all types of quiescence.
26. Finkelstein RR, Wang ML, Lynch TJ, Rao S, Goodman H The Arabidopsis abscisic acid response locus ABI4 encodes an APETALA2 domain protein. Plant Cell. 10:1998;1043-1054. ABA-sensitive abi4 mutants are defective in seed development but exhibit a less severe phenotype than known abi3 mutants. The gene, isolated by positional cloning, might represent a new element in the signal transduction pathway involving ABI3.
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29. Koornneef M, Hanhart CJ, Hilhorst HWM, Karssen CM In vivo inhibition of seed development and reserve protein accumulation in recombinants of abscisic acid biosynthesis and responsiveness mutants in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Physiol. 90:1989;463-469.
30. •]) on ABA signal transduction.
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32. Jang J-C, Sheen J Sugar sensing in higher plants. Trends Plant Sci. 2:1997;208-214. Recommended review on a rapidly expanding research field.
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34. •]) focusing on the possible role of sugars in regulating cotyledon development.
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36. Borisjuk L, Walenta S, Weber H, Müller-Klieser W, Wobus U High resolution histographical mapping of glucose concentrations in developing cotyledons of Vicia faba in relation to mitotic activity and storage processes: glucose as a possible developmental trigger. Plant J. 15:1998;583-591. A luciferase-coupled enzyme reaction together with quantitative bioluminescence and single photon imaging is used to visualise glucose concentration gradients which are related to specific cell types. In addition, they correlate positively with mitotic activity and negatively with starch accumulation. The authors speculate about glucose concentration 'landscapes' as possible morphogenetic gradients.
37. Weber H, Borisjuk L, Heim U, Buchner P, Wobus U Seed coat-associated invertases of fava bean control both unloading and storage functions: cloning of cDNAs and cell-type specific expression. Plant Cell. 7:1995;18351846.
38. Weber H, Borisjuk L, Heim U, Sauer N, Wobus U A role for sugar transporters during seed development: molecular characterization of a hexose and a sucrose carrier in Fava bean seeds. Plant Cell. 9:1997;895-908. The authors back their hypothesis on the important role of sugars in cotyledon development by describing correlations between the expression of sugar transporters, sugar levels and cell type differentiation. Additional experimental evidence is drawn from work with explanted cotyledons.
39. •]) and gene expression studies, will increasingly contribute to a better understanding of developmental processes.
40. 2+ in the sugar-inducible expression of plant genes.
41. Perata P, Matsukura C, Vernieri P, Yamaguchi J Sugar repression of a gibberellin-dependent signaling pathway in barley embryos. Plant Cell. 9:1997;2197-2708. This study deals mainly with α-amylase gene expression in germinating barley grain, but is also certainly of relevance for processes in seed maturation, as it clearly demonstrates the complex and tissue-dependent interaction of sugar signals with hormone regulation.
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43. •] that the studied α-Amy3 3′UTR is probably the major determinant for controlling transcript abundance in response to glucose deprivation. This is the first example of a structural element in a developmentally regulated plant mRNA gene involved in sugar regulation.
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45. •] probably provides the first evidence for the initiation of differentiation within a developing organ in response solely to a sugar signal.
46. +/amino acid permease gene expression during seed development of Arabidopsis. Plant J. 14:1998;535-544. The two characterised genes, AAP1 and AAP2, show non-overlapping expression patterns and might play a role in supplying the seeds with organic nitrogen.
47. Kelly MO, Spanswick RM Maternal, single-gene regulation of assimilate partitioning in pea. Plant Physiol. 114:1997;1055-1059. The paper stresses the point that important seed characteristics like rate and duration of seed growth are strongly influenced by physiological processes determined maternally.
48. Swain SM, Reid JB, Kamiya Y Gibberellins are required for embryo growth and seed development in pea. Plant J. 12:1997;1329-1338. The pea mutants lh-1 and lh-2 provide the most unequivocal evidence for an important role of gibberellins (GAs) in early seed development. They exclude assimilate availability and lacking maternal GAs as causes for reduced final seed weight or seed abortion, but suggest that GAs either promote assimilate uptake by the embryo or exert a direct influence on seed growth.
49. 2+ signalling in the sugar-inducible expression of genes coding for sporamin and β-amylase of sweet potato. Plant J. 7:1995;297-307.