Summary
We investigated the control of genes expressed primarily during seed germination and postgerminative development in Brassica napus L. We identified cloned mRNA sequences which became prevalent within 1 day after the start of imbibition and were at low or undetectable levels in immature embryos, dry seeds, and leaves. Most postgermination-abundant mRNAs accumulated primarily, though not exclusively, in different parts of the seedling. Of the 14 cloned mRNAs, 8 were prevalent in cotyledons, 2 were abundant in seedling axes, and 4 were approximately equally distributed in both parts. We showed that although these mRNAs reached maximal levels in seedlings, the spatially regulated mRNAs were also detected at distinct embryonic stages; mRNAs prevalent in seedling axes accumulated primarily during early embryogenesis while cotyledon-abundant mRNA concentration increased during late embryogeny. We conclude that the temporal and spatial regulation of gene expression in seedlings reflects similarities and differences in the physiological functions of cotyledons and axes. Furthermore, the regulated expression of cotyledon-abundant genes during late embryogeny suggests that the mRNAs and possibly proteins may accumulate in preparation for subsequent seedling growth. Similarities in the accumulation of cotyledon-abundant mRNAs may indicate coordinate regulation of this gene set.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- DAF:
-
days after flowering
- DAI:
-
days after the start of imbibition
- HAI:
-
hours after the start of imbibition
- kb:
-
kilobase(pairs)
References
Aspart L, Meyer Y, Laroche M, Penon P (1984) Developmental regulation of the synthesis of proteins encoded by stored mRNA in radish embryos. Plant Physiol 76:664–673
Beevers H (1979) Microbodies in higher plants. Annu Rev Plant Physiol 30:159–193
Bewley JD, Black M (1983) Physiology and biochemistry of seeds in relation to germination, vol. 1. Development, germination, and growth. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York
Crouch ML, Sussex IA (1981) Development and storage-protein synthesis in Brassica napus L. embryos in vivo and in vitro. Planta 153:64–74
Crouch ML, Tenbarge KM, Simon AE, Ferl R (1983) cDNA clones for Brassica napus seed storage proteins: evidence from nucleotide sequence analysis that both subunits of napin are cleaved from a precursor polypeptide. J Mol Appl Genet 2:273–283
Dasgupta J, Bewley JD (1982) Dessication of axes of Phaseolus vulgaris during development of a switch from a development pattern of protein synthesis to a germination pattern. Plant Physiol 70:1224–1227
Datta K, Parker H, Averyhart-Fullard B, Schmidt A, Marcus A (1987) Gene expression in the soybean seed axis during germination and early seedling growth. Planta 170:209–216
Davidson EH (1976) Gene activity in early development. Academic Press, New York
Dure L III, Greenway SC, Galau GA (1981) Developmental biochemistry of cottonseed embryogenesis and germination: changing messenger ribonucleic acid populations as shown by in vitro and in vivo protein synthesis. Biochemistry 20:4162–4168
Finkelstein RR, Crouch ML (1986) Rapeseed embryo development in culture on high osmoticum is similar to that in seeds. Plant Physiol 81:907–912
Finkelstein RR, Tenbarge KM, Shumway JE, Crouch ML (1985) Role of ABA in maturation of rapeseed embryos. Plant Physiol 78:630–636
Fischer RL, Goldberg RB (1982) Structure and flanking regions of soybean seed protein genes. Cell 29:651–660
Frevert J, Koller W, Kindl H (1980) Occurrence and biosynthesis of glyoxysomal enzymes in ripening cucumber seeds. Hoppe Seylers Z Physiol Chem 361:1557–1565
Galau GA, Dure L III (1981) Developmental biochemistry of cottonseed embryogenesis and germination: changing messenger ribonucleic acid populations as shown by reciprocal heterologous complementary deoxyribonucleic acid-messenger ribonucleic acid hybridization. Biochemistry 20:4169–4178
Galau G, Legocki AB, Greenway SC, Dure LS (1981) Cotton messenger RNA sequences exist in both polyadenylated and nonpolyadenylated forms. J Biol Chem 256:2551–2560
Goldberg RB, Hoschek G, Tam SH, Ditta GS, Breidenbach RW (1981) Abundance, diversity, and regulation of mRNA sequence sets in soybean embryogenesis. Dev Biol 83:201–217
Gubler U, Hoffman BJ (1983) A simple and very efficient method for generating cDNA libraries. Gene 25:263–269
Hanahan D, Meselson M (1980) Plasmid screening at high colony density. Gene 10:63–67
Ihle JN, Dure LS III (1972) The developmental biochemistry of cottonseed embryogenesis and germination. II. Regulation of the biosynthesis of enzymes utilized in germination. J Biol Chem 247:5048–5055
Lehrach H, Diamond D, Wozney JM, Boedtker H (1977) RNA molecular weight determinations by gel electrophoresis under denaturing conditions, a critical reexamination. Biochemistry 16:4743–4751
Marcus A, Rodway S (1982) Nucleic acid and protein synthesis during germination. In: Smith H (ed) The molecular biology of plant development. University of California Press, Berkeley, pp 337–361
Misra S, Bewley JD (1985a) The messenger RNA population in the embryonic axes of Phaseolus vulgaris during development and following germination. J Exp Bot 36:1644–1652
Misra S, Bewley JD (1985b) Reprogramming of protein synthesis from a developmental to a germinative mode induced by desiccation of the axes of Phaseolus vulgaris. Plant Physiol 78:876–882
Murray MG, Hoffman LM, Jarvis NP (1983) Improved yield of full-length phaseolin cDNA clones by controlling premature anticomplementary DNA synthesis. Plant Mol Biol 2:75–84
Rigby PWJ, Dieckmann M, Rhodes C, Berg P (1977) Labeling DNA to high specific activity in vitro by nick-translation with DNA polymerase I. J Mol Biol 113:237–251
Sánchez-Martínez D, Puigdomènech P, Pagès M (1986) Regulation of gene expression in developing Zea mays embryos. Plant Physiol 82:543–549
Schopfer P, Plachy C (1984) Control of seed germination by abscisic acid. II. Effect on embryo water uptake in Brassica napus L. Plant Physiol 76:155–160
Simon AE, Tenbarge KM, Scofield SR, Finkelstein RR, Crouch ML (1985) Nucleotide sequence of a cDNA clone of Brassica napus 12S storage protein shows homology with legumin from Pisum sativum. Plant Mol Biol 5:191–201
Thomas PS (1980) Hybridization of denatured RNA and small DNA fragments transferred to nitrocellulose. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 77:5201–5205
Timberlake WE, Shumard DS, Goldberg RB (1977) Relationship between nuclear and polysomal RNA populations of Achlya: a simple eucaryotic system. Cell 10:623–632
Turley RB, Trelease RN (1987) Cottonseed malate synthase: biogenesis in maturing and germinating seeds. Plant Physiol 84:1350–1356
Weir EM, Riezman H, Grieneberger J-M, Becker WM, Leaver CJ (1980) Regulation of glyoxysomal enzymes during germination of cucumber. Eur J Biochem 112:469–477
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by R.B. Goldberg
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Harada, J.J., Baden, C.S. & Comai, L. Spatially regulated genes expressed during seed germination and postgerminative development are activated during embryogeny. Mol Gen Genet 212, 466–473 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00330851
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00330851