Abstract
Plant seeds lose their viability when they are exposed to long term storage or controlled deterioration treatments, by a process known as seed aging. Based on previous studies, artificially aging treatments have been developed to accelerate the process of seed aging in order to understand its underlying mechanisms. In this study, we used Brassica napus seeds to investigate the mechanisms of aging initiation. B. napus seeds were exposed to artificially aging treatment (40°C and 90% relative humidity) and their physio-biochemical characteristics were analyzed. Although the treatment delayed germination, it did not increase the concentration of cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). Comparative proteomic analysis was conducted among the control and treated seeds at different stages of germination. The proteins responded to the treatment were mainly involved in metabolism, protein modification and destination, stress response, development, and miscellaneous enzymes. Except for peroxiredoxin, no changes were observed in the accumulation of other antioxidant enzymes in the artificially aged seeds. Increased content of abscisic acid (ABA) was observed in the artificially treated seeds which might be involved in the inhibition of germination. Taken together, our results highlight the involvement of ABA in the initiation of seed aging in addition to the ROS which was previously reported to mediate the seed aging process.
Highlights
Successful germination of seeds is a prerequisite for plants to initiate their life cycle and to distribute their progeny, and is largely determined by the seed vigor (Holdsworth et al, 2008; Rajjou et al, 2012)
High temperature and moisture accelerate the process of seed aging, www.frontiersin.org leading to the rapid loss of seed vigor
reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been presumed as the main factors which lead to the seed aging during storage (Bailly et al, 1996; Bailly, 2004; Kibinza et al, 2006; Parkhey et al, 2012)
Summary
Successful germination of seeds is a prerequisite for plants to initiate their life cycle and to distribute their progeny, and is largely determined by the seed vigor (Holdsworth et al, 2008; Rajjou et al, 2012). Seed aging is a process which results in delayed germination, reduction in germination rate, and sometimes even a total loss of seed viability (Priestley, 1986). Prolonged storage of seeds induces seed aging which is a major complication in plant germplasm conservation (Garza-Caligaris et al, 2012). The aged crop seeds germinate poorly and negatively affect the seedlings growth and eventually the yield (Ellis, 1992). When stored in uncontrolled conditions, most of the agricultural crops have 1–5 years of seed viability, which is much less when compared to the wild plants. Optimized storage conditions have been proved fruitful in slowing down the rate of seed aging and eventually increasing the seed life span. Low temperature and moisture content are helpful (Walters et al, 2005) while high temperature and humidity have been shown to induce and accelerate the seed aging process (El-Maarouf-Bouteau et al, 2011)
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