SEED DORMANCY AND GERMINATION MECHANISM OF RARE AND ENDANGERED PLANTS

Rare and endangered plants not only provide mankind with scarce chemical, pharmaceutical, and living materials but also witness geological changes, plant evolution, and phylogeny. They are also one of the indispensable life-forms for maintaining the biodiversity on the earth. However, difficulties with dormancy and germination are the major reasons for their near extinction. By understanding the causes of seed dormancy for rare and endangered plants, artificial regulation of seed dormancy can achieve the purpose of lifting their endangered status. This paper reviews the external and internal causes of seed dormancy in rare and endangered plants in recent years. By focusing on the key genes, miRNAs, and transcription, the factors causing seed dormancy have been gradually revealed. This provides the foundation for the molecular regulation of seeds. The paper also reviews the methods of dormancy release on both physical and chemical levels. It discusses the critical directions for future research to provide a scientific basis for renewing rare and endangered plant populations and the establishing engineered breeding technology systems for them.