Analysis of gene expression in early seed germination of rice: landscape and genetic regulation

Haoxuan Li, Xiaozheng Li, Guanjie Wang, Jianhua Zhang*, Guanqun Wang*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: Seed germination is a crucial process, which determines the initiation of seed plant life cycle. The early events during this important life cycle transition that called early seed germination is defined as initially water uptake plus radicle growing out of the covering seed layers. However, a specific genome-wide analysis of early seed germination in rice is still obscure. 

Results: In this study, the physiological characteristics of rice seed during seed germination are determined to define key points of early seed germination. Transcriptome analyses of early phase of seed germination provided deeper insight into the genetic regulation landscape. Many genes involved in starch-to-sucrose transition were differentially expressed, especially alpha-amylase 1b and beta-amylase 2, which were predominantly expressed. Differential exon usage (DEU) genes were identified, which were significantly enriched in the pathway of starch and sucrose metabolism, indicating that DEU events were critical for starch-to-sucrose transition at early seed germination. Transcription factors (TFs) were also dramatic expressed, including the abscisic acid (ABA) responsive gene, OsABI5, and gibberellic acid (GA) responsive genes, GAI. Moreover, GAI transactivated GA responsive gene, GAMYB in vivo, indicating a potential pathway involved in early seed germination process. In addition, CBL-interacting protein kinase (CIPK) genes, such as CIPK13, CIPK14 and CIPK17 were potentially interacted with other proteins, indicating its pivotal role at early seed germination. 

Conclusion: Taken together, gene regulation of early seed germination in rice was complex and protein-to-gene or protein-to-protein interactions were indispensable.

Original languageEnglish
Article number70
Number of pages14
JournalBMC Plant Biology
Volume22
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 17 Feb 2022

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Plant Science

User-Defined Keywords

  • Early seed germination
  • Oryza sativa
  • Physiological characteristic
  • Transcription factors
  • Transcriptome

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