title: Galactinol as marker for seed longevity.
abstract: Reduced seed longevity or storability is a major problem in seed storage and contributes to increased costs in crop production. Here we investigated whether seed galactinol contents could be predictive for seed storability behavior in Arabidopsis, cabbage and tomato. The analyses revealed a positive correlation between galactinol content and seed longevity in the three species tested, which indicates that this correlation is conserved in the Brassicaceae and beyond. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping in tomato revealed a co-locating QTL for galactinol content and seed longevity on chromosome 2. A candidate for this QTL is the GALACTINOL SYNTHASE gene (Solyc02g084980.2.1) that is located in the QTL interval. GALACTINOL SYNTHASE is a key enzyme of the raffinose family oligosaccharide (RFO) pathway. To investigate the role of enzymes in the RFO pathway in more detail, we applied a reverse genetics approach using T-DNA knock-out lines in genes encoding enzymes of this pathway (GALACTINOL SYNTHASE 1, GALACTINOL SYNTHASE 2, RAFFINOSE SYNTHASE, STACHYOSE SYNTHASE and ALPHA-GALACTOSIDASE) and overexpressors of the cucumber GALACTINOL SYNTHASE 2 gene in Arabidopsis. The galactinol synthase 2 mutant and the galactinol synthase 1 galactinol synthase 2 double mutant contained the lowest seed galactinol content which coincided with lower seed longevity. These results show that galactinol content of mature dry seed can be used as a biomarker for seed longevity in Brassicaceae and tomato.
authors.affiliation: Wageningen Seed Lab, Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: dsvidigal@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: de Souza Vidigal
authors.affiliation: Wageningen Seed Lab, Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: leo.willems@wur.nl.
authors.forename: Leo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Willems
authors.affiliation: Plant Research International, Wageningen UR, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PD Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: jeroen.vanarkel@wur.nl.
authors.forename: Jeroen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van Arkel
authors.affiliation: Wageningen Seed Lab, Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: bas.dekkers@wur.nl.
authors.forename: Bas J W
authors.initials: BJW
authors.lastname: Dekkers
authors.affiliation: Wageningen Seed Lab, Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: henk.hilhorst@wur.nl.
authors.forename: Henk W M
authors.initials: HWM
authors.lastname: Hilhorst
authors.affiliation: Wageningen Seed Lab, Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: leonie.bentsink@wur.nl.
authors.forename: Leónie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bentsink
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000502:physiology; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D001937:Brassica / Q000502:physiology; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004187:Disaccharides / Q000378:metabolism*; D005700:Galactosyltransferases / Q000378:metabolism; D055786:Gene Knockout Techniques; D008136:Longevity; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D010944:Plants / Q000378:metabolism*; D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci / Q000235:genetics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012639:Seeds / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004187:Disaccharides; C036483:T-DNA; C013536:6 beta-galactinol; D005700:Galactosyltransferases; C096645:inositol 1-alpha-galactosyltransferase
keywords: Arabidopsis; Galactinol; Galactinol synthase; Raffinose oligosaccharide family; Seed deterioration; Seed longevity