Useful Web sites related to seed dormancy and germination:

1. The Seed Biology Place is a web-site that carries a large amount of information about molecular mechanisms of germination, seed ecology, seed evolution, hormones etc etc.
The site is curated by Dr Gerd Leubner (University of Freiburg), a member of the vSEED consortium.


2. The Arabidopsis seed eFP browser at the University of Toronoto, run by Professor Nick Provart, a collaborator of vSEED.

A quick primer on seed germination:

Figure 1 Arabidopsis seed germination is a two stage process.
A. Light micrograph showing sequential stages of Arabidopsis accession Col-0 seed germination, testa and endosperm rupture. The position of testa and endosperm tissue is indicated, and following rupture of the endosperm, the emerging radicle. Bar represents 25 microns.
B. Time course of testa and endosperm rupture in Arabidopsis accession Col-0 seeds.

(Information from laboratory of Prof. Michael Holdsworth)


Lepidium sativum has emerged recently as a promising model for comparative germination studies, developed in the laboratory of Dr. Gerd Leubner.
Some information comparing Arabidopsis and Lepidium seeds is given below:

- Arabidopsis and Lepidium seed structure compared (Fig. 2 in Müller et al. 2006) -
Hyperlink: http://www.seedbiology.de/html2/pcp06-fig2.html
- Classical puncture-force technique to measure Lepidium endosperm weakening
Hyperlink: http://www.seedbiology.de/html2/brisbane06-fig2.html

- Two-step germination and size comparison Arabidopsis and Lepidium:





Resources and approaches generated by vSEED associated research groups:
(Links at the bottom of this page:)

Differential expression of cell wall epitopes during germination (preliminary data from Prof. Paul Knox (University of Leeds), a member of the vSEED consortium)


Novel imaging approaches are being used to analyse seed structure during germination: Figure below shows a micrograph of a Col-0 Arabidopsis seedling imbibed for 48h on water-agarose media. The image was taken using a cryo-FIB/SEM (focused ion bean scanning electron microscope) which allows a frozen sample to be manipulated and micro-sectioned to reveal subcellular details.
Image courtesy of Darren Wells and Tara Holman (CPIB), and Hannah Edwards (Nottingham Nanotechnology and Nanoscience Centre).





- A link to the University of Nottingham CPIB Maths Study Group (Nottingham Dec 2007) final report on the biomechanics of Arabidopsis seed germination (embryo and endosperm models).

- A time lapse movie of Arabidopsis seed germination, interesting because it allows visualisation of changes in embryo growth in relation to the timing of testa and endosperm rupture (data generated by CPIB postdocs, University of Nottingham).

- Standard Operating Procedures used in vSEED for seed harvest and analysis of germination.