Figure 2.

Functional analysis of DES1 and ABI4 on seed germination and post-germination growth. (A,B) Relative expression of DES1 (A) and L-CDes activity (B) in Col-0, abi4, 35S:ABI4 abi4, and 35S:ABI4^Cys250Ala abi4 Arabidopsis seedlings. Five-day-old seedlings were collected for qRT-PCR analysis and measurement of L-CDes enzyme activity, respectively. Expression levels are presented relative to that of UBQ10, with DES1 expression in the Col-0 set to 100%. (C,D) Time-course changes of germination percentage in Col-0 and abi4 Arabidopsis seedlings upon NaHS treatment. Arabidopsis seeds were incubated on ¹/₂ MS medium containing 0.1 mM NaHS, respectively. The germination percentage (%) of seeds was counted at the indicated time points. (E) The time to obtain 50% of germinated seeds in WT, des1, abi4, and des1 abi4 seeds with or without 0.1 mM NaHS. Data are mean ± SE of three independent experiments with three biological replicates for each individual experiment. Bars with different letters indicate significant differences at p < 0.05 according to one-way ANOVA (post-hoc Tukey’s HSD test). Con: control. Asterisks represent significant differences between treatments according to Student’s t-test (* p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001).