Figure 1.

The scheme of the experimental model. Apple seeds were aged for 7, 14, 21 or 40 days on Petri dishes filled with moisture sand at 33 °C. After accelerated ageing of the seeds, embryos were isolated and part of them was fumigated with NO. Embryos non-treated with NO were used as a control. Embryos (control and NO treated) were cultured for 48 h and the embryonic axes were isolated and used for biochemical and transcriptomic analysis. The germination rate of the embryos and morphology of developing seedlings were determined after 7 days of the culture.