Re-establishment of desiccation tolerance in protruded radicles of Medicago truncatula Wt and abi5 seeds

Desiccation tolerance (DT) is the capacity to withstand total loss of cellular water. This property is acquired during seed filling and lost just after germination. However, in many species, a germinated seed can regain DT under adverse conditions such as osmotic stress. We discovered that the germinated seeds of the abscisic acid insensitive 5 (Mtabi5) mutant of Medicago truncatula lost their ability to re-establish DT during osmotic stress. To characterize the molecular processes that are influenced by MtABI5 during the re-establishment of DT tolerance, a transcriptome analysis was performed on the protruded radicles of germinated Mtabi5 mutants and wilt type before and after an osmotic treatment. Six-condition experiment, R108_T versus R108_P, abi5-1_T versus abi5-1_P, abi5-2_T versus abi5-2_P. Biological replicates: 9 controls (R108-T, abi5-1_T, abi5-2_T), 9 treatments (R108-P, abi5-1_P, abi5-2_P), independently grown and harvested. One replicate per array.