Analysis of light induced secondary seed dormancy in Aethionema arabicum, Cyprus accession

Light inhibits the seed germination in the Cypriot accession (CYP) of Aethionema arabicum. Extended light illumination also induces a secondary seed dormancy that inhibits the germination even if the seeds were transferred back to darkness. This analysis aims to compare the seed transcriptome before or after the dormancy was established by light illumination (100 µmol/m2s; white light). One day light treatment (1dL) inhibits the germination but the seeds are not yet dormant. Seven day (7dL) or 14-day (14dL) long light treatment induces dormancy, and the seeds stay dormant after 7 dal-light plus 7 day-dark (7dL7dD) treatment. To understand the dormancy establishment, transcriptome was compared between non-dormant (1dL) and dormant (7dL, 14dL, 7dL7dD) seed samples. Overall design: Imbibed seeds of CYP accession were exposed to white light (100 µmol m-2s-1) for 23 hours (1dL), 7 days, 14 days or 7 days followed by a 7-day dark period. mRNA profiles were generated by deep sequencing, in triplicate, using Illumina HiSeq 2500. In total, 12 samples were analyzed (4 conditions x 3 repetitions)