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Role of miRNAs in Seed Development

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MicroRNAs in Plant Development and Stress Responses

Part of the book series: Signaling and Communication in Plants ((SIGCOMM,volume 15))

Abstract

The formation of seed is initiated after fertilization. Seed development starts with differentiation of tissues at relatively early stages, during which the basic body plan of a future plant is already determined. Later, maturation programs are induced to prepare for seed desiccation, dispersal, and germination. Many transcription factors are involved in the developmental and maturation programs in developing seeds, and these programs are subject to transcriptional, posttranscriptional, and posttranslational regulation. miRNAs are essential for normal seed development. Loss of function in miRNA biogenesis-, processing-, and loading-associated genes results in embryo lethality, severe embryo defects, or abnormal seedling formation after germination. The timing of expression of individual miRNAs also appears to be important. A specific subset of miRNAs and their targets are involved in embryogenesis, while a different subset of miRNAs may be responsible for seed maturation. miRNAs also play a critical role in the separation of these two distinct programs in seeds.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the fellowship from Fundación Séneca: Agencia Regional de Ciencia y Tecnología, Región de Murcia, Spain to C.M.A., and a donation from Sakata Seed Corporation, Japan, to the Integrative Seed Biology program at Oregon State University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. USDA-ARS, National Forage Seed Production Research Center, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    Ruth C. Martin

  2. Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Espinardo, 30100, Murcia, Spain

    Cristina Martínez-Andújar

  3. Department of Horticulture, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    Cristina Martínez-Andújar & Hiro Nonogaki

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  1. Ruth C. Martin
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  2. Cristina Martínez-Andújar
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  3. Hiro Nonogaki
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Correspondence to Hiro Nonogaki .

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  1. , Dept. Biochemistry & Molecular Biol, Oklahoma State University, Noble Research Center 246, Stillwater, 74078, Oklahoma, USA

    Ramanjulu Sunkar

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Martin, R.C., Martínez-Andújar, C., Nonogaki, H. (2012). Role of miRNAs in Seed Development. In: Sunkar, R. (eds) MicroRNAs in Plant Development and Stress Responses. Signaling and Communication in Plants, vol 15. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27384-1_6

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