Tansley Review - New Phytologist 171: 501-523 (2006)

Seed dormancy and the control of germination

William E. Finch-Savage (1), Gerhard Leubner-Metzger (2)

(1) Warwick HRI, Warwick University, Wellesbourne, Warwick CV35 9EF, United Kingdom, Web: 'Seed Science Group' http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/hri2/research/seedscience/

(2) Institut für Biologie II (Botanik/Pflanzenphysiologie), Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Schänzlestr. 1, D-79104 Freiburg i. Br., Germany, Web: 'The Seed Biology Place' http://www.seedbiology.de

Received February 23, 2006; accepted March 27, 2006; published

Angiosperm seed evolution

Figure 4. Angiosperm seed evolution depicted in a phylogenetic tree of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II (2003). For each family, pictographs of the seed type and symbols for the dormancy class are placed next to the corresponding clade (see Fig. 3 for symbols and data source). The number of pictographs or symbols is equal to the number of families with the corresponding seed type or dormancy class, respectively. Numbers in the phylogenetic tree represent "embryo to seed" (E:S) ratios expressed as GSL (generalized least squares) values from Forbis et al. (2002, personal communication). Clades with experimental evidence for endosperm-limited germination and endosperm weakening are in bold and numbered (1) to (10). The experimental evidence can be summarised as follows: Rosid clade: (1) Cucurbitaceae: Cucumis Carrow down (perisperm weakening); (2) Brassicaceae: Lepidium Carrow down GAarrow down ABAarrow up (Müller et al., 2006), Arabidopsis. Asterid clade: (3) Oleaceae: Syringa Parrow down GAarrow down (Junttila, 1973), Fraxinus Carrow down GAarrow down (Fig. 6, Finch-Savage & Clay, 1997); (4) Solanaceae (Solanoideae): Lycopersicon Carrow down GAarrow down ABAarrow up (Groot & Karssen, 1987, 1992; Toorop et al., 2000; Wu et al., 2000), Capsicum Carrow down GAarrow down (Watkins & Cantliffe, 1983; Petruzzelli et al., 2003), Datura (Sanchez & Mella, 2004); (4) Solanaceae (Cestroideae): Nicotiana (reviewed in Leubner-Metzger, 2003), Petunia (Petruzzelli et al., 2003); (5) Rubiaceae: Coffea Carrow down GAarrow down ABAarrow up (da Silva et al., 2004; da Silva et al., 2005); (6) Asteraceae: Lactuca Carrow down GAarrow down (Tao & Khan, 1979); (7) Apiaceae: Apium (Jacobsen & Pressman, 1979). Other clades: (8) Amaranthaceae: Chenopodium (Karssen, 1976); (9) Ranunculaceae: Trollius (Hepher & Roberts, 1985); (10) Iridaceae: Iris Carrow down (Blumenthal et al., 1986), Poaceae: Triticum Carrow down (Benech-Arnold, 2004). Puncture force measurements: Carrow down = Endosperm weakening prior to endosperm rupture; GAarrow down = Endosperm weakening promoted by GA; ABAarrow up = Endosperm weakening inhibited by ABA. Phylogenetic tree modified from Judd et al. (2002); Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2003); Soltis and Soltis (2003); Stevens (2005).
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   Abstract    Fig. 1               Fig. 2
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