phyB and HY5 are Involved in the Blue Light-Mediated Alleviation of Dormancy of Arabidopsis Seeds Possibly via the Modulation of Expression of Genes Related to Light, GA, and ABA

Light is one of the most important environmental factors regulating seed germination. It is known that light inhibits seed germination of some monocotyledonous species and that it is mostly related to the blue wavelength of the spectrum received by cryptochromes (cry). Research has also found that the red light (R) stimulates germination of dicotyledonous seeds and that this reaction involves mainly phytochromes (phy). Surprisingly, up to date, the role and the mechanism of action of blue light (BL) in seed biology of dicot plants is still very poorly understood and some questions are unexplained, e.g., whether BL plays a role in regulation of dicot seeds dormancy and/or germination? If, so what particular elements of light signaling pathway are involved in modulation of this(ese) process(es)? Also, is the BL action in regulation of dicot seeds dormancy and/or germination maybe due to changes of expression of genes related to metabolism and/or signaling of two phytohormones controlling seed-related events, such as gibberellins (GA) and abscisic acid (ABA)? To answer these intriguing questions, the combination of biological, transcriptomic, and genetic approaches was performed in this particular study. The germination tests show that freshly harvested wild type (WT) Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0 seeds are dormant and do not germinate in darkness (at 25 °C), while nondormant (after-ripened) seeds germinate well in these conditions. It is also proven that dormancy of seeds of this species is released in the presence of white and/or BL (λ = 447 nm) when placed at 25 °C. Presented here, novel results emphasize the role of BL in dormancy alleviation of dicot seeds, indicating that this wavelength of light spectrum received by phyB induces this process and that the sensitivity to this stimulus depends on the depth of seed dormancy. In addition, it is demonstrated that various elements of phy-mediated pathway can be used in response to the signal induced by BL in germinating dormant seeds of Arabidopsis. The quantitative real time PCR analysis supported by results of germination tests of WT, T-DNA insertion mutants (i.e., hy5, hfr1, and laf1) and overexpression transformants of Arabidopsis seeds (i.e., 35S:OE:HY5, 35S:OE:HYH, 35S:OE:HFR1, and 35S:OE:LAF1) revealed that the HY5 gene coding transcription factor is most probably responsible for the control of expression of genes involved in GA/ABA metabolism and/or signaling pathways during BL-dependent dormancy alleviation of Arabidopsis seeds, while biological functions of HYH and HFR1 are associated with regulation of germination. The model of BL action in regulation of dormancy alleviation and germination potential of Arabidopsis seeds is proposed.