Jessica Berisford

Introduction Summary:

There has been much progress made, when it comes to understanding seed dormancy,
in the past decade. With the new progress there has also been some confusion, which could be
due to different news on dormancy. Confusion could have also been caused because a clear
definition of the dormancy that was studied was not established.

Conclusion Summary:

The most widespread dormancy class is physiological seed dormancy (PD). PD provides
an ecological description of the ‘whole seed’ dormancy response. Field observations have
shown that single species have taken place on a similar path rather than different ones. PD is in
an active state. Active transcription has strong similarities between primary and secondary
dormancy states. Dormancy induction and release are more than likely mediated through
conserved signaling mechanisms. Embryo dormancy has a high ABA:GA ratio. Coat dormancy
can either be dead or living. Testa dormancy is ABA determining GA requirements for
germination. Endosperm dormancy can have endosperm weakening which can be part of the
coat dormancy release or part of the germination program.

My Article: The Relationship Between Pyridine Nucleotides and Seed Dormancy

Summary:

The point of this research was to investigate the proposed role for NAD metabolism in
regulating seed dormancy. They found that polyation levels didn’t correlate with the depth of
seed dormancy. The sensitivity, however, did correlate well. Cvi seeds had high NAD levels and
low NADP levels. It is suggested that polymerase is involved in protecting the seed form
genotoxic stress.

Hunt Lee, Blackwell. 2009. The relationship between pyridine nucleotides and seed dormancy.
New Phytologist 181: 62-70.