Abstract
Cereals crops, rice, wheat, and maize, are the most important food. Seed germination under undesirable environmental conditions will contribute to stable cereal productions and to the enlargement of the cultivation areas for the demands of people around the world. However, they have different characters on the anatomy of seed. To understand the molecular bases of seed germination in cereals, identification of genes controlling seed germination is necessary. Using a genomics approach, a novel gene controlling seed germination in rice, qLTG3-1, has been identified. qLTG3-1 is a major quantitative trait locus (QTL) controlling tolerance to low-temperature at seed germination stage, termed low-temperature germinability. This QTL encodes a protein of unknown function and is strongly expressed in the embryo prior to and during seed germination. Expression of qLTG3-1 was tightly associated with vacuolation of the tissues covering the embryo. I will discuss the role of qLTG3-1 on seed germination in rice and other cereals.
