Sugars acting as fuel energy or as signaling molecules play important roles in plant growth and development. Although sugars associated with early seedling development have been analyzed in detail, few studies have examined the effect of sugar on genome-wide gene transcription. To analyze the role of glucose on the genomic level, we examined the response of seedlings to 5% glucose using RNA-seq...

Seed and seedling predation may differentially affect competitively superior tree species to increase the relative recruitment success of poor competitors and contribute to the coexistence of tree species. We examined the effect of seed and seedling predation on the seedling recruitment of three tree species, Acer rubrum (red maple), Liriodendron tulipifera (yellow poplar), and Quercus rubra (n...

We use a novel dye-tracing technique to measure in vivo phloem transport velocity in cucumber (Cucumis sativus) plants during early seedling development. We focus on seedlings because of their importance in plant establishment and because they provide a simple source and sink model of phloem transport. The dye-tracing method uses a photodiode to track the movement of a bleach front of fluoresce...

Oilseed plants like Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) develop green photosynthetically active embryos. Upon seed maturation, the embryonic chloroplasts degenerate into a highly reduced plastid type called the eoplast. Upon germination, eoplasts redifferentiate into chloroplasts and other plastid types. Here, we describe seedling plastid development1 (spd1), an Arabidopsis seedling albino mutan...

Exogenous glucose delays seed germination in Arabidopsis thaliana not only in wild type (WT), but also in a number of mutants in hormone signalling pathways. This study demonstrates that the ABA Insensitive 3 (ABI3) gene in the ABA signalling pathway and the RGA-like 2 (RGL2) and SPINDLY (SPY) genes in the GA signalling pathways all play important roles in the glucose-induced delay of seed germ...

Modifications of the fatty acid composition of plant vegetative tissues produce deficient plant growth. To determine the expression of the seed high-saturated sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) mutant character during the vegetative cycle, five sunflower mutant lines (three high-stearic and two high-palmitic) have been studied during their germination and vegetative cycle. No significant variatio...

Light is an important factor for plant growth and development. We have identified and functionally characterized a regulatory gene SHORT HYPOCOTYL IN WHITE LIGHT1 (SHW1) involved in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) seedling development. SHW1 encodes a unique serine-arginine-aspartate-rich protein, which is constitutively localized in the nucleus of hypocotyl cells. Transgenic analyses have re...

Seedling emergence and subsequent survival and growth are vital for natural forest restoration or plantation establishment by means of seeds. Such information is lacking for the African bamboo species. Two experiments were carried out in a greenhouse to evaluate the influence of seed orientation and sowing depth of the lowland bamboo Oxytenanthera abyssinica on seedling emergence, survival and ...

Early embryo development from the zygote is an essential stage in the formation of the seed, while seedling development is the beginning of the formation of an individual plant. AtNSE1 and AtNSE3 are subunits of the structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC) 5/6 complex and have been identified as non-SMC elements, but their functions in Arabidopsis growth and development remain as yet unknown...

Early establishment of endophytes can play a role in pathogen suppression and improve seedling development. One route for establishment of endophytes in seedlings is transmission of bacteria from the parent plant to the seedling via the seed. In wheat seeds, it is not clear whether this transmission route exists, and the identities and location of bacteria within wheat seeds are unknown. We ide...