Improving Seedling Establishment Through a Mechanistic Understanding of DNA Damage Responses

Project title

Improving Seedling Establishment Through a Mechanistic Understanding of DNA Damage Responses

Description

Primary Investigators

Dr Christ West – Faculty of Biological Sciences

Dr Wanda Waterworth – Faculty of Biological Sciences 

Description

Seed germination and early seedling growth are important to crop productivity but are under increasing threat from environmental stresses.

The ability of seeds to overcome these stresses is dependent on a complex interaction between the plant’s genetic make up and the conditions that seeds are exposed to during development and post-harvest storage.

Together these factors result in progressive loss of germination performance, termed seed ageing, which leads to slowed germination, poor seedling growth and increased mortality.

The molecular mechanisms that underpin seed ageing, and how these influence both germination and subsequent seedling growth, are poorly understood.

We discovered that DNA damage accumulated during seed ageing is an important factor that limits germination.

Furthermore, our work showed that the chromosome breaks in aged seeds lead to longer term effects that continue into early seedling growth.

We propose that the ability of seedlings to mitigate the longer term effects of DNA damage incurred in seeds is an important factor in crop performance, especially in conditions of environmental stress.

 

Research Overview

In this project, we will determine the molecular pathways that help reverse the effects of seed ageing and promote early seedling growth.

We will characterise the responses to DNA damage in aged seeds as they progress through germination and seedling growth.

In addition, we will quantify the extent of genome damage through the early phases of the plant lifecycle.

This work will be accompanied by genetic studies that will determine the DNA repair pathways that are most important to survival of seedlings from seeds of different quality grown under conditions that model field environments.

These results will allow us to identify the key components that support germination and early seedling growth.

Using this knowledge, we will develop improved lines of the commercial vegetable crop Brassica oleracea and quantify early seedling growth under a range of environmental stresses and seed ageing regimes.

Our research will bring novel understanding of the factors that determine field performance of crops grown from seed and identify novel approaches to build climate resilient crops.