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Title: DEVELOPMENTAL PATTERN OF BIOTINYLATED PROTEINS DURING EMBRYOGENSIS AND MATURATION OF SOYBEAN SEED.

Author
item FRANCA NETO, JOSE - EMBRAPA, BRAZIL
item Shatters, Robert - Bob
item West, Sherlie

Submitted to: Seed Science Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/12/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Seed quality is an important factor in determining health, growth rate, and yield potential of the plant derived from a given seed. Large seeded legumes, such as soybean, have seed that are sensitive to deterioration, and poor seed quality has been linked to significant yield loses. During seed development, seeds are programmed to induce molecular events designed to prepare the seed for desiccation and survival during an inactive period prior to germination. It is the successful accomplishment of these molecular events that results in the formation of high quality seed. Research was conducted to identify molecular phenomena that influence seed quality. We have shown that during maturation of seed, as they develop desiccation tolerance, changes occur to a group of proteins that contain biotin, an important vitamin in plants and animals. Although these changes were not solely responsible for the ability of seeds to become tolerant to desiccation, it is believed that these changes are an important step in the process of seed maturation. Understanding the role that these biotinylated proteins play in the seed, and the mechanisms that control their changes during seed development, will allow rationale design of standard breeding or genetic engineering protocols to produce higher quality seed.

Technical Abstract: Detection of biotinylated proteins (BP) was compared to the development of desiccation tolerance in soybean seeds. Three groups of BP were detected in soybean seeds using a biotin streptavidin detection method: a set of three bands with a mean MW of 85 kD (BP85), detected in crude extracts of embryonic axes (EA) from non-dehydrated seeds (NDS) and from artificially slow-dehydrated seeds (DS); BP75, a single protein with a MW of 75 kD was expressed in cotyledons (COT) and EA tissues of NDS and DS; and a group of peptides with a mean MW of 35 kD (BP35), was expressed at high levels only in COT of NDS. BP35 concentration was highest at early stages of seed development (21 days after flowering - DAF) and decreased as seeds developed. Only traces of BP75 and BP85 extracted from EA and COT were detected at early stages of seed development (21 to 33 DAF). Maximum levels of accumulation of these proteins were expressed at 42 to 47 DAF. Desiccation-tolerant stage of the seed was initiated at 47 DAF, which coincided with the stage of maximum accumulation of BP75 and BP85 in the seed. However, appearance of these proteins could be stimulated by desiccation of immature seeds that had not achieved desiccation tolerance. Therefore changes in biotinylated proteins is coincident with, but not sufficient for, the development of desiccation tolerance.