Seed after-ripening and over-expression of class I β-1,3-glucanase confer maternal effects on tobacco testa rupture and dormancy release

'Coat-imposed' seed dormancy of many non-endospermic and endospermic species is released during after-ripening. After-ripening-mediated promotion of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) seed germination is mainly due to a promotion of testa rupture and a similar promotion of subsequent endosperm rupture. Treatment of after-ripened or freshly harvested mature seeds with abscisic acid (ABA) delays endosperm rupture and inhibits the induction of class I β-1,3-glucanase (βGlu I) in the micropylar endosperm, but does not affect the kinetics of testa rupture. After-ripening-mediated release of photodormancy is correlated with a decreased gibberellin (GA) requirement for testa rupture during dark-imbibition. Reciprocal crosses between wild-type tobacco and sense-βGlu I transformant lines showed that βGlu I over-expression in the seed covering layers can replace the promoting effect of after-ripening on testa rupture in light, but only if the mother plant is a sense-βGlu I line. This maternal effect supports the model of two sites for βGlu I action: (i) βGlu I contribution to the after-ripening-mediated release of dormancy in the dry seed state, which is manifested in the promotion and ABA-insensitivity of testa rupture during imbibition. (ii) ABA-sensitive expression of βGlu I in the micropylar endosperm, which contributes to endosperm rupture. The importance of GA-signaling and testa characteristics appear to be a common feature during the after-ripening-mediated release of coat-imposed dormancy in endospermic and non-endospermic seeds.