Liu Ranran, Wang Lei, Tanveer Mohsin, Song Jie
Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Stress, College of Life Science, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, China.
State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ürümqi, China.
Front Plant Sci. 2018 Oct 17;9:1515. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2018.01515. eCollection 2018.
Seed germination is a very critical and important step for seedling establishment under saline environments, as high level of salinity in the soil can prevent seed germination. However halophytes exhibit an interesting mechanism to cope with salt stress. Many halophytes produce heteromorphic seeds, which have different dormancy and germination behavior under saline conditions. This characteristic is related to the structural and physiological differences among heteromorphic seeds. It was unclear that how heteromorphic seeds differently accumulate organic and inorganic substances under saline conditions, and what are the physiological and molecular mechanisms involved in the production of heteromorphic seeds, and in the development of transgenerational plasticity in heteromorphic seeds. In the current brief review, dormancy and germination and the possible role of seed coat and storage compounds in this process of heteromorphic seeds development have been discussed. Moreover, the role of maternal effects on heteromorphic seeds production under saline environments and growth and reproduction capability of the descendants from them have been highlighted.
种子萌发是盐碱环境下幼苗建立的一个非常关键且重要的步骤，因为土壤中的高盐度会抑制种子萌发。然而，盐生植物展现出一种有趣的应对盐胁迫的机制。许多盐生植物会产生异形种子，这些种子在盐碱条件下具有不同的休眠和萌发行为。这一特性与异形种子之间的结构和生理差异有关。目前尚不清楚异形种子在盐碱条件下如何不同地积累有机和无机物质，以及异形种子产生过程中涉及哪些生理和分子机制，异形种子的跨代可塑性发育过程中又涉及哪些生理和分子机制。在当前这篇简短综述中，讨论了异形种子发育过程中休眠和萌发以及种皮和储存化合物可能发挥的作用。此外，还强调了母体效应在盐碱环境下对异形种子产生以及由此产生的后代的生长和繁殖能力的作用。
