Exogenous spermidine improves seed germination of sweet corn via involvement in phytohormone interactions, H2O2 and relevant gene expression

BMC Plant Biology

Research Article

Yajing Guan¹  Yutao Huang¹  Qijuan Hu¹  Zhan Li¹  Fei He¹  Jin Hu¹  Cheng Lin¹ 

[1] Seed Science Center, Institute of Crop Science, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, 866 Yuhangtang Road, 310058, Hangzhou, China;

关键词: Gene expression;    HO;    Phytohormone;    Seed germination;    Spermidine;    Sweet corn;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12870-016-0951-9

 received in 2016-04-18, accepted in 2016-12-13,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe low seed vigor and poor field emergence are main factors that restricting the extension of sweet corn in China. Spermidine (Spd) plays an important role in plant growth and development, but little is known about the effect of Spd on sweet corn seed germination. Therefore the effect of exogenous Spd on seed germination and physiological and biochemical changes during seed imbibition of Xiantian No.5 were investigated in this study.ResultsSpd soaking treatment not only improved seed germination percentage but also significantly enhanced seed vigor which was indicated by higher germination index, vigor index, shoot heights and dry weights of shoot and root compared with the control; while exogenous CHA, the biosynthesis inhibitor of Spd, significantly inhibited seed germination and declined seed vigor. Spd application significantly increased endogenous Spd, gibberellins and ethylene contents and simultaneously reduced ABA concentration in embryos during seed imbibition. In addition, the effects of exogenous Spd on H2O2 and MDA productions were also analyzed. Enhanced H2O2 concentration was observed in Spd-treated seed embryo, while no significant difference of MDA level in seed embryo was observed between Spd treatment and control. However, the lower H2O2 and significantly higher MDA contents than control were detected in CHA-treated seed embryos.ConclusionsThe results suggested that Spd contributing to fast seed germination and high seed vigor of sweet corn might be closely related with the metabolism of hormones including gibberellins, ABA and ethylene, and with the increase of H2O2 in the radical produced partly from Spd oxidation. In addition, Spd might play an important role in cell membrane integrity maintaining.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017