Hostname: page-component-669899f699-8p65j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-02T00:21:47.840Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Changes in ribosomal RNA integrity in leek (Allium porrum L.) seeds during osmopriming and drying-back treatments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2008

P. A. Davison ,
R. M. Taylor  and
C. M. Bray
P. A. Davison
Affiliation:
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
R. M. Taylor
Affiliation:
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
C. M. Bray*
Affiliation:
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
*
* Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Loss of vigour in leek (Allium porrum L.) seed lots is accompanied by the appearance of damage to ribosomal RNA in quiescent embryo tissue. Polyethylene glycol osmopriming treatments of such low-vigour seed permit replacement of this damaged ribosomal rRNA over a 7-day priming period. Low-vigour leek seeds germinated for 6 days without a prior osmopriming treatment still exhibit evidence of damaged ribosomal RNA in embryo tissue. Osmoprimed leek seeds dried back whilst still in the desiccation-tolerant state retain most of the benefits conferred by priming treatments. Osmoprimed leek seeds dried back when having reached the desiccation-sensitive state germinate poorly, if at all, and exhibit much reduced rates of protein synthesis in embryo tissue upon rehydration compared to desiccation-tolerant seeds. Embryo tissue from dried back, desiccation-tolerant seeds exhibits the capacity for much higher levels of protein synthesis than embryo tissue from unprimed seeds at equivalent stages of imbibition. RNA levels continue to increase in embryo tissue upon rehydration of dried back, desiccation-tolerant leek seeds but not in desiccation-sensitive seeds. Loss of protein synthetic capacity in desiccation-sensitive seeds during rehydration is accompanied by increasing levels of ribosomal RNA degradation. Such ribosomal RNA degradation may be indicative of the germinative capacity of leek seeds dried back after osmopriming treatments.

Keywords

Allium porrum L.desiccation toleranceleeksosmoprimingprotein synthesisRNA
Type
Research Papers
Information
Seed Science Research , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , March 1991 , pp. 37 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

1

Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EH, UK

References

Alvardo, A.D., Bradford, K.J. and Hewitt, J.D. (1987) Osmotic priming of tomato seeds: Effects on germination field emergence, seedling growth and fruit yield. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science 112, 427–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barlow, E.M.R. and Haigh, A.M. (1987) Effect of seed priming on the emergence, growth and yield of UC 82B tomatoes in the field. Acta Horticulturae 200, 153–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blowers, L.E., Stormonth, D.A. and Bray, C.M. (1980) Nucleic acid and protein synthesis and loss of vigour in germinating wheat embryos. Planta 150, 19–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blowers, L.E., Stormonth, D.A. and Bray, C.M. (1985) Protein synthesis and loss of vigour in germinating wheat embryos. Plant Science Letters 37, 257–264.Google Scholar
Bradford, K.J. (1986) Manipulation of seed water relations via osmotic priming to improve germination under stress conditions. Horticultural Science 21, 1105–1112.Google Scholar
Bray, C.M. and Chow, T-Y (1976) Lesions in the ribosomes of non-viable pea (Pisum arvense) embryonic axis tissue. Biochimica et Biphysica Acta 442, 14–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bray, C.M. and Smith, C.A.D. (1985) Stored polyadenylated RNA and loss of vigour in germinating wheat embryos. Plant Science 38, 71–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bray, C.M., Davison, P.A., Ashraf, M. and Taylor, R.M. (1989) Biochemical changes during priming of leek seeds. Annals of Botany 63, 185–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brocklehurst, P.A. and Dearman, J. (1983a) Interactions between seed priming treatments and nine seed lots of carrot, celery and onion. I. Laboratory germination. Annals of Applied Biology 102, 577–584.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brocklehurst, P.A. and Dearman, J. (1983b) Interactions between seed priming treatments and nine seed lots of carrots, celery and onion. II. Seedling emergence and plant growth. Annals of Applied Biology 102, 585–593.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brocklehurst, P.A. and Drew, R.L.K. (1984) Effects of osmotic priming on seed germination and seedling growth in leek. Scientia Horticulturae 24, 201–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brocklehurst, P.A. and Fraser, R.S.S. (1980) Ribosomal RNA integrity and the rate of seed germination. Planta 148, 417–421.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bujalski, B., Nienow, A. and Gray, D. (1989) Establishing the large scale osmotic priming of onion seeds by using enriched air. Annals of Applied Biology 115, 171–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burgass, R.W. and Powell, A.A. (1989) Evidence for repair processes in the invigoration of seeds by hydration. Annals of Botany 53, 735–757.Google Scholar
Coolbear, P. and Grierson, D. (1979) Studies on the changes in the major nucleic acid components of tomato seeds (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) resulting from osmotic presowing treatments. Journal of Experimental Botany 30, 1153–1162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coolbear, P., Slater, R.J. and Bryant, J.A. (1990) Changes in nucleic acid levels associated with improved germination performance of tomato seeds after low temperature pre-sowing treatment. Annals of Botany 65, 187–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cuming, A.C. (1984) Control of ribosomal protein synthesis during wheat embryo imbibition. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 783, 42–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hegarty, T.W. (1978) The physiology of seed hydration and dehydration and the relation between water stress and the control of germination: a review. Plant, Cell and Environment 1, 101–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heydecker, W. and Coolbear, P. (1977) Seed treatments to improve performance—survey and attempted prognosis. Seed Science and Technology 5, 353–425.Google Scholar
Heydecker, W., Higgins, J. and Turner, Y.J. (1975) Invigoration of seeds. Seed Science and Technology 3, 881–888.Google Scholar
Khan, A.A., Tao, K.L., Knypl, J.S., Borowska, B. and Powell, L.E. (1978) Osmotic conditioning of seeds: physiological and biochemical changes. Acta Horticulturae 83, 267–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, T.D., Hanley-Bowdoin, L.K. and Lane, B.G. (1981) Structural integrity of RNA and translational integrity of ribosomes in nuclease-treated cell-free proteinsynthesising systems prepared from wheat germ and rabbit reticulocytes. Journal of Biological Chemistry 256, 5802–5809.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knypl, J.S. and Khan, A.A. (1981) Osmoconditioning of soybean seeds to improve performance at suboptimal temperatures. Agronomy Journal 73, 112–116.Google Scholar
Roberts, E.H. and Ellis, R.H. (1982) Physiological, ultrastructural and metabolic aspects of seed viability, pp 465–485 in Khan, A.A. (Ed.) The physiology and biochemistry of seed development, dormancy and germination. Amsterdam. New York, Oxford. Elsevier Biomedical Press.Google Scholar
Roberts, E.H. and Roberts, D.L. (1972) Moisture content of seeds. pp 424–429in Roberts, E.H. (Ed.), Viability of seeds London, UK. Chapman and Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, B.E., Payne, P.I. and Osborne, D.J. (1973) Protein synthesis and the viability of rye grains. Biochemical Journal 131, 275–286.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sen, S. and Osborne, D.J. (1974) Germination of rye embryos following hydration–dehydration treatments: Enhancement of protein and RNA synthesis and earlier induction of DNA replication. Journal of Experimental Botany 25, 1010–1119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, C.A.D. and Bray, C.M. (1982) Intracellular levels of polyadenylated RNA and loss of vigour in germinating wheat embryos. Planta 156, 413–420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, C.A.D. and Bray, C.M. (1984) Polyadenylated RNA levels and macromolecular synthesis during loss of seed vigour. Plant Science Letters 34, 335–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, T.H. (1981) Seed treatments and techniques to improve germination. Scientific Horticulture 32, 47–59.Google Scholar
Zanzoterra, P. and Bray, C.M. (1989) Biochemical and physiological changes during osmotic priming and germination of leek seeds. Plant Physiology (Life Science Advances) 8, 11–16.Google Scholar