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Morphology and Physiology of Seeds and Other Plant Storage Tissues 2.0

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A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Plant Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2022) | Viewed by 9632

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Eva Stoger

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Department of Applied Genetics and Cell Biology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, 1190 Vienna, Austria
Interests: cereal biotechnology, intracellular protein trafficking and deposition, endomembrane dynamics; molecular farming; production of pharmaceutical proteins in seed crops
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Elsa Arcalis

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Department of Applied Genetics and Cell Biology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, 1190 Vienna, Austria
Interests: seed biology; electron microscopy; widefield microscopy; confocal microscopy; storage organelles biogenesis; trafficking and deposition of storage and recombinant proteins in seeds and other plant tissues
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Seeds and other storage organs accumulate high amounts of reserves needed for germination in a relatively small volume. The specialization of seed tissues for the storage of starch or lipids and proteins makes them very attractive from a cell biology point of view. Moreover, the importance of seeds as human feedstock points out the relevance of research on agricultural trait improvement and stress resistance.

This Special Issue of the International Journal of Molecular Sciences will focus on recent research on the morphology and physiology of seeds and other plant storage tissues. Potential topics include endomembrane trafficking, storage organelle development, the analysis of storage compounds, starch and oil body biogenesis, and seed trait improvement.

Prof. Dr. Eva Stoger
Dr. Elsa Arcalis
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

storage organelles
seed biology
storage tissues
endomembranes
seed biotechnology
nutrient partitioning

Related Special Issue

Morphology and Physiology of Seeds and Other Plant Storage Tissues in International Journal of Molecular Sciences (9 articles)

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 2549 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Confocal Fluorescence Microscopy Investigation for the Existence of Subdomains within Protein Storage Vacuoles in Soybean Cotyledons

by Hari B. Krishnan and Alexander Jurkevich

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(7), 3664; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms23073664 - 27 Mar 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2467

Abstract

In legumes, the seed storage proteins accumulate within specialized organelles called protein storage vacuoles (PSVs). In several plant species, PSVs are differentiated into subdomains that accumulate different kinds of proteins. Even though the existence of subdomains is common in cereals and legumes, it has not been reported in soybean PSVs. The two most abundant seed proteins of soybean, 7S and 11S globulins, have different temporal accumulation patterns and exhibit considerable solubility differences that could result in differential accretion of these proteins within the PSVs. Here, we employed confocal fluorescent microscopy to examine the presence or absence of subdomains within the soybean PSVs. Eosin-stained sections of FAA-fixed paraffin embedded soybean seeds, when viewed by confocal fluorescence microscopy, revealed the presence of intricate subdomains within the PSVs. However, fluorescence immunolabeling studies demonstrated that the 7S and 11S globulins were evenly distributed within the PSVs and failed to corroborate the existence of subdomains within the PSVs. Similarly, confocal scanning microscopy examination of free-hand, vibratome and cryostat sections also failed to demonstrate the existence of subdomains within PSVs. The subdomains, which were prominently seen in PSVs of FAA-fixed soybean seeds, were not observed when the seeds were fixed either in glutaraldehyde/paraformaldehyde or glutaraldehyde. Our studies demonstrate that the apparent subdomains observed in FAA-fixed seeds may be a fixation artifact. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Morphology and Physiology of Seeds and Other Plant Storage Tissues 2.0)

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10 pages, 1101 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Overexpression of Peroxisome-Localized GmABCA7 Promotes Seed Germination in Arabidopsis thaliana

by Jianchun Li, Zaihui Peng, Yan Liu, Meirong Lang, Yaohui Chen, Huihong Wang, Yingshuang Li, Banruo Shi, Weipeng Huang, Li Han, Yifeng Ma, Yu Zhang and Bangjun Wang

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(4), 2389; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms23042389 - 21 Feb 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1969

Abstract

Peroxisome is one of the important organelles for intracellular lipid metabolism in plant cells and β-oxidation of fatty acids in peroxisomes provides the energy for oil-containing seed germination. In this study, we identified an ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter gene, GmABCA7 from soybean, which is highly expressed in the different developmental stages of seeds. Transient expression of GmABCA7 in tobacco epidermal cells showed that GmABCA7 was specifically localized at the peroxisomes. Overexpression of GmABCA7 in Arabidopsis does not change seed phenotypes, or the overall levels of lipid, protein and sugar stored in the seeds; however, the transgenic seeds produced more gluconeogenic pathway precursors such as succinate and malate and germinated earlier compared to the wild type seeds. These results suggest that GmABCA7 may affect the β-oxidation of fatty acids and play an important role in seed germination. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Morphology and Physiology of Seeds and Other Plant Storage Tissues 2.0)

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19 pages, 4038 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Transcriptome and Metabolite Conjoint Analysis Reveals the Seed Dormancy Release Process in Callery Pear

by Jing Zhang, Jia-Yi Qian, Yue-Hong Bian, Xiao Liu and Chun-Lei Wang

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(4), 2186; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms23042186 - 16 Feb 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2732

Abstract

Seed dormancy transition is a vital developmental process for seedling propagation and agricultural production. The process is precisely regulated by diverse endogenous genetic factors and environmental cues. Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana Decne) is an important rootstock species that requires cold stratification to break seed dormancy, but the mechanisms underlying pear seed dormancy release are not yet fully understood. Here, we analyzed the transcriptome profiles at three different stages of cold stratification in callery pear seeds using RNA sequencing combined with phytohormone and sugar content measurements. Significant alterations in hormone contents and carbohydrate metabolism were observed and reflected the dormancy status of the seeds. The expressions of genes related to plant hormone metabolism and signaling transduction, including indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) biosynthesis (ASAs, TSA, NITs, YUC, and AAO) genes as well as several abscisic acid (ABA) and gibberellic acid (GA) catabolism and signaling transduction genes (CYP707As, GA2ox, and DELLAs), were consistent with endogenous hormone changes. We further found that several genes involved in cytokinin (CTK), ethylene (ETH), brassionolide (BR), and jasmonic acid (JA) metabolism and signaling transduction were differentially expressed and integrated in pear seed dormancy release. In accordance with changes in starch and soluble sugar contents, the genes associated with starch and sucrose metabolism were significantly up-regulated during seed dormancy release progression. Furthermore, the expression levels of genes involved in lipid metabolism pathways were also up-regulated. Finally, 447 transcription factor (TF) genes (including ERF, bHLH, bZIP, NAC, WRKY, and MYB genes) were observed to be differentially expressed during seed cold stratification and might relate to pear seed dormancy release. Our results suggest that the mechanism underlying pear seed dormancy release is a complex, transcriptionally regulated process involving hormones, sugars, lipids, and TFs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Morphology and Physiology of Seeds and Other Plant Storage Tissues 2.0)

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11 pages, 4314 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Progressive Aggregation of 16 kDa Gamma-Zein during Seed Maturation in Transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana

by Elsa Arcalis, Davide Mainieri, Alessandro Vitale, Eva Stöger and Emanuela Pedrazzini

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(23), 12671; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms222312671 - 24 Nov 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1765

Abstract

Prolamins constitute a unique class of seed storage proteins, present only in grasses. In the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), prolamins form large, insoluble heteropolymers termed protein bodies (PB). In transgenic Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) leaves, the major maize (Zea mays) prolamin, 27 kDa γ-zein (27γz), assembles into insoluble disulfide-linked polymers, as in maize endosperm, forming homotypic PB. The 16 kDa γ-zein (16γz), evolved from 27γz, instead forms disulfide-bonded dispersed electron-dense threads that enlarge the ER lumen without assembling into PB. We have investigated whether the peculiar features of 16γz are also maintained during transgenic seed development. We show that 16γz progressively changes its electron microscopy appearance during transgenic Arabidopsis embryo maturation, from dispersed threads to PB-like, compact structures. In mature seeds, 16γz and 27γz PBs appear very similar. However, when mature embryos are treated with a reducing agent, 27γz is fully solubilized, as expected, whereas 16γz remains largely insoluble also in reducing conditions and drives insolubilization of the ER chaperone BiP. These results indicate that 16γz expressed in the absence of the other zein partners forms aggregates in a storage tissue, strongly supporting the view that 16γz behaves as the unassembled subunit of a large heteropolymer, the PB, and could have evolved successfully only following the emergence of the much more structurally self-sufficient 27γz. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Morphology and Physiology of Seeds and Other Plant Storage Tissues 2.0)

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