Seed development and differentiation: a role for metabolic regulation.

During seed growth, the filial organs, Vicia embryos and barley endosperm, differentiate into highly specialized storage tissues. Differentiation is evident on structural and morphological levels and is reflected by the spatial distribution of metabolites. In Vicia embryos, glucose is spatially correlated to mitotic activity whereas elongating and starch accumulating cells contain high levels of sucrose. Seed development is also regulated by phytohormones. In pea seeds, GA-deficiency stops seed growth before maturation. In Arabidopsis seeds, ABA regulates differentiation and inhibits cell division activity. The ABA pathway, in turn, is linked to sugar responses. In young Vicia embryos, invertases in maternal tissues control both concentration and composition of sugars. Embryonic and endospermal transfer cell formation represents an early differentiation step. Establishing an epidermis-localised sucrose uptake system renders the embryo independent from maternal control. cDNA array analysis in barley seeds revealed a massive transcriptional re-programming of gene expression during the transition stage, when gene clusters related to transport and energy metabolism are highly transcribed. Sucrose represents a signal for differentiation and up-regulates storage-associated gene expression. Sucrose signalling involves protein phosphorylation. Sucrose non-fermenting-1-related protein kinases are apparently induced in response to high cellular sucrose, and could act as mediators of sucrose-specific signals. Energy metabolism changes during seed development. In Vicia embryos metabolic responses upon hypoxia and low energy charge levels are characteristic for young undifferentiated stages when energy demand and respiration are high. During the transition stage, the embryo becomes adapted to low energy availability and metabolism becomes energetically more economic and tightly controlled. These adaptations are embedded in the embryo's differentiation program and coupled with photoheterotrophic metabolism. In Vicia cotyledons, ATP content increases in a development-dependent pattern and is associated with the greening process. The main role of seed photosynthesis is to increase internal O2 contents and to control biosynthetic fluxes by improving energy supply.

Identification of genes specifically expressed in maternal and filial tissues of barley caryopses: a cDNA array analysis.

Developing seeds consist of genetically distinct maternal and filial tissues, whose interactions during development are largely unknown. To better understand the molecular physiology of developing seed tissues in barley, we created a high-density cDNA macroarray bearing 711 cDNA fragments from 691 clones representing at least 620 unique genes mainly derived from a cDNA library constructed with mRNA from the early stages of caryopsis development. This array has been used to compare gene expression patterns in maternal pericarp and filial embryo sac tissues of caryopses sampled 1-7 days after flowering (DAF). The profiles obtained for both tissues revealed that at least 26 genes in pericarp and 12 genes in embryo sac tissues were up-regulated by more than a factor of two during this period. RNAs expressed at high levels in the pericarp mainly encode enzymes involved in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, but also include mRNA for a transcription factor related to FILAMENTOUS FLOWER (FIL). Genes preferentially expressed in the embryo sac are mainly related to degradation and/or processing of proteins or are involved in the process of starch accumulation, which begins in the seed at this time. Some of the most conspicuously regulated genes were studied in more detail by Northern analysis and in situ hybridization. The mRNA with the highest apparent signal intensity encodes a methionine synthase (MSY). MSY is highly expressed throughout the pericarp and to a lower extent in the transfer cell layer of the endosperm. Of special interest is a gene of unknown function because its high-level expression is restricted to the nucellar projection, the maternal transfer tissue of the caryopsis. This gene, represented by clone HY09L21, may play a central role in transport processes and thus in embryo growth.

EST analysis in barley defines a unigene set comprising 4,000 genes.

We report the generation of 13,109 EST (Expressed Sequence Tag) sequences from barley as a first step towards the generation of a unigene set for this organism. Sequences were generated from three libraries encompassing 7,568 cDNA clones. Comparisons to nucleic acid and protein sequence databases enabled the assignment of putative functions to the mRNAs. The results of the searches against protein databases were parsed and built into a regularly updated database, available over the World Wide Web. The Stack_Pack clustering system has been applied to survey the level of redundancy, which was calculated to amount to 69%, thus we identified 4,000 different barley genes. To prove the usability of the results of the clustering process for further experiments, we subjected alignments with sequences similar to elongation factor 1 alpha to additional analysis. These sequences represented the largest group with identical putative functions (228 members) and clustering based on the analysis of 3; sequences subdivided the group into five different assemblies. Alignments of the consensus sequences facilitated the development of PCR assays suitable for genetic mapping of four of the different gene-family members, which reside on chromosomes 2H, 4H and 5H, thus demonstrating the suitability of the cluster-results as a basis for in-depth analyses of barley gene families.

Sucrose transport into barley seeds: molecular characterization of two transporters and implications for seed development and starch accumulation.

In order to understand sucrose transport in developing seeds of cereals at the molecular level, we cloned from a caryopses library two cDNAs encoding sucrose transporters, designated HvSUT1 and HvSUT2. Sucrose uptake activity was confirmed by heterologous expression in yeast. Both transporter genes are expressed in maternal as well as filial tissues. In a series of in situ hybridizations we analysed the cell type-specific expression in developing seeds. HvSUT1 is preferentially expressed in caryopses in the cells of the nucellar projection and the endospermal transfer layer, which represent the sites of sucrose exchange between the maternal and the filial generation and are characterized by transfer cell formation. HvSUT2 is expressed in all sink and source tissues analysed and may have a general housekeeping role. The rapid induction of HvSUT1 gene expression in caryopses at approximately 5-6 days after fertilization coincides with increasing levels of sucrose as well as sucrose synthase mRNA and activity, and occurs immediately before the onset of rapid starch accumulation within the endosperm. Starch biosynthesis requires sucrose to be imported into the endosperm, as direct precursor for starch synthesis and to promote storage-associated processes. We discuss the possible role of HvSUT1 as a control element for the endospermal sucrose concentration.

Localization of vicilin genes via polymerase chain reaction on microisolated field bean chromosomes.

A new technique is reported for the physical mapping of low copy DNA sequences on plant chromosomes. Individual chromosomes were microisolated and their DNA used as the target for the polymerase chain reaction in order to identify the chromosome carrying a specific gene sequence. The use of defined translocation chromosomes further refined the resolution of the method to a subchromosomal level. To demonstrate the applicability of the procedure genes have been localized coding for vicilin seed storage proteins on the field bean Vicia faba L. in a region which includes the centromere and the proximal parts of the short and the long arms of chromosome II.