title: To Grow or not to Grow?
abstract: The seed to seedling transition in plants is initiated following the termination of seed dormancy. Here, I present a simplified developmental framework describing the events underlying this transition. I discuss putative mechanisms of signal integration and their relation to a global developmental fate switch in seeds within this framework. I delineate the events that occur before and after the flipping of this switch, marking an important distinction between these different developmental states. To end, I propose that the final fate switch resides within the embryo, and is informed by the endosperm in arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). This framework can serve as a template to focus future research in seed science.
authors.affiliation: School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK. Electronic address: g.w.bassel@bham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: George W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Bassel
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D008954:Models, Biological; D057445:Plant Dormancy / Q000235:genetics; D012639:Seeds / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction
keywords: developmental fate; developmental threshold; dormancy; phase transition; seed; signal integration