Dynamics of protein phosphorylation during Arabidopsis seed germination

Seed germination is a major step of plant growth and development. It is critical for species competition and spreading capacity in ecosystems. In agrosystems, it eventually impacts crop growth and yield. To prevent unappropriated germination under environmental conditions that do not guarantee the establishment of a robust plantlet, seeds from temperate species are generally dormant at maturity. Dormancy is a physiological mechanism that blocks seed germination even under favorable conditions and dormancy release is therefore required prior to germination [1]. A range of environmental (e.g. temperature, light, oxygen availability) and endogenous (e.g. hormonal) signals regulate these processes and germination completion, i.e. the early emergence of embryo radicle from seed envelope, can be achieved only when promoting mechanisms overcome inhibiting processes [2]. In that sense, the balance between the two antagonistic hormones abscisic acid (ABA) and gibberellins (GA), that inhibit and stimulate seed germination, respectively, promotes either dormancy (high ABA and low GA contents) or germination (low ABA and high GA contents) [3]