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Environmental Responses in Plants pp 183–196Cite as

Basic Techniques to Assess Seed Germination Responses to Abiotic Stress in Arabidopsis thaliana

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Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1398))

Abstract

The model organism Arabidopsis thaliana has been extensively used to unmask the molecular genetic signaling pathways controlling seed germination in plants. In Arabidopsis, the normal seed to seedling developmental transition involves testa rupture soon followed by endosperm rupture, radicle elongation, root hair formation, cotyledon expansion, and greening. Here we detail a number of basic procedures to assess Arabidopsis seed germination in response to different light (red and far-red pulses), temperature (seed thermoinhibition), and water potential (osmotic stress) environmental conditions. We also discuss the role of the endosperm and how its germination-repressive activity can be monitored genetically by means of a seed coat bedding assay. Finally we detail how to evaluate germination responses to changes in gibberellin (GA) and abscisic acid (ABA) levels by manipulating pharmacologically the germination medium.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Biology, University of Geneva, 30 Quai Ernest-Ansermet-Sciences III, 1211, Geneva 4, Switzerland

    Urszula Piskurewicz & Luis Lopez-Molina

Authors
  1. Urszula Piskurewicz
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  2. Luis Lopez-Molina
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luis Lopez-Molina .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Oeiras, Portugal

    Paula Duque

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Piskurewicz, U., Lopez-Molina, L. (2016). Basic Techniques to Assess Seed Germination Responses to Abiotic Stress in Arabidopsis thaliana . In: Duque, P. (eds) Environmental Responses in Plants. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1398. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3356-3_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3356-3_15

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-3354-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-3356-3

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