Background The 7S vicilin-like seed storage globulins represent an important class of food allergens. In many plants, the 7S globulins are synthesized as a precursor polypeptide, which undergoes post-translational proteolysis to remove a portion of the N-terminus to produce the mature protein sequence. However, the fate of the cleaved N-terminal region is largely unknown. We have identified and...

Seeds dispersed by vertebrates can face potentially very different seed fate pathways. One of these is via vertebrates that pose little threat to the seed itself, either dropping the seed in the course of fruit handling or passing the seed relatively unharmed through the gut (‘benign dispersers’ or ‘legitimate’ dispersers of Schupp (1993)). Alternatively, seeds could be dispersed by vertebrates...

BACKGROUND Determining the distances over which seeds are dispersed is a crucial component for examining spatial patterns of seed dispersal and their consequences for plant reproductive success and population structure. However, following the fate of individual seeds after removal from the source tree till deposition at a distant place is generally extremely difficult. Here we provide a compari...

The accelerating rate of vertebrate extinctions and population declines threatens to disrupt important ecological interactions, altering key ecosystem processes such as animal seed dispersal. The study of highly specialized mutualistic interactions is crucial to predict the consequences of population declines and extinctions. Islands offer unique opportunities to study highly specialized intera...

Rodents affect the post-dispersal fate of seeds by acting either as on-site seed predators or as secondary dispersers when they scatter-hoard seeds. The tropical forests of north-east India harbour a high diversity of little-studied terrestrial murid and hystricid rodents. We examined the role played by these rodents in determining the seed fates of tropical evergreen tree species in a forest s...

After dispersal, seeds can germinate and establish as seedlings, persist as seeds, or die. Knowledge of these three seed fates is crucial for understanding the abundance and distribution of plant populations and ultimately, community composition and diversity. Few studies, however, have simultaneously measured these fates, while also examining the factors causing mortality. The goal of this res...

The fate of sucrose (Suc) supplied via the phloem to developing oilseed rape (Brassica napus) seeds has been investigated by supplying [(14)C]Suc to pedicels of detached, developing siliques. The method gives high, sustained rates of lipid synthesis in developing embryos within the silique comparable with those on the intact plant. At very early developmental stages (3 d after anthesis), the li...

For several plant species, brood size results from the abortion of ovules and seeds. However, these processes have rarely been studied together in wild plants. In some of the leguminous species studied, seed abortion has been found to depend on pollen quality and on the position of the ovule or fruit. The direct consequence for the mother plant is that fruit costs increase as the seed:ovule rat...

The Galápagos are considered a model oceanic archipelago, with unique flora and fauna currently threatened by alien invasive species. Seed dispersal is an important ecosystem function with consequences for plant population dynamics and vegetation structure. Hence, understanding the seed dispersal abilities of the assemblages of frugivores will inform scientists and managers of the dynamics of p...