A molecular study of dormancy breaking and germination in seeds of Trollius ledebouri.

A cDNA library was generated from seeds of Trollius ledebouri cv. Golden Queen after GA3 treatment. Five clones encoded mRNAs which were down-regulated during dormancy breaking and the initial stages of germination. Two of these showed homology to storage proteins (pPCB3 and pPCB4) and one each to the late-embryogenesis-abundant (LEA) group 2 dehydrin proteins (pPCB2), a barely glucose dehydrogenase (pPCB6) and the glutathione S-transferase (GST) superfamily (pPCB7). Transcript levels declined over 8 days in GA3-treated seeds. In dormant imbibed seeds transcript levels were relatively unchanged over the same period except for the PCB3 transcript, the level of which increased.