Seed production was a decisive adaptation that appeared during plant evolution. Not in vain! The most diverse plant lineage today is that of the so-called seed plants, a group that includes gymnosperms and angiosperms. Therefore, it is not surprising that understanding seed origin and evolution has been of paramount interest within the plant science community […]
Ensuring that seeds germinate in the most suitable conditions for seedling establishment is critical for plant fitness, especially in environments where water is not readily available all year. Seed dormancy is considered to be the primary mechanism to achieve this. Still, many other different life-history traits such as germination requirements, dispersal season and dispersal syndrome […]
Maternal care in plants is expressed through the investment in means for seed dispersal and germination and resource allocation to seeds. While the latter is limited by seed mass, this trait only provides a partial view of the functional importance of maternal care in plants. Notably, seed macronutrients –namely carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous– differ significantly […]
Assessing the viability of ungerminated seeds at the end of a trial is a common practice in seed germination experiments. By doing this, researchers aim to establish the number of viable seeds that were sown in an experiment and estimate germination parameters accordingly. Still, can we be sure that those seeds found to be unviable […]
Plants are increasingly being recognized for their contributions to human wellbeing. However, most attention has been given to services provided by adult plants or those derived from their interaction with pollinators. In this exciting piece, Mattana and colleagues advocate for the importance of seeds and describe their natural capital value using a total economic value […]
Seed imbibition (i.e., water uptake) marks the beginning of germination, an irreversible process that might lead plants to death if it occurs under unsuitable conditions for seedling development. Therefore, it is expected that seeds only germinate when water is readably available. However, the molecular mechanism behind this control remains to be described. In this fascinating […]
Physical dormancy is a dormancy class caused by a water-impermeable cell layer that prevents seed water uptake. Despite being present in several families, its molecular basis has seldom been addressed. Here, Chai and colleagues identify a β-ketoacyl-CoA synthase (KCS) –one of the enzymes that participate in very long chain fatty acid (VLCFA) biosynthesis– involved in […]
While traditionally known for having their ovules exposed to the environment, all gymnosperm lineages have species with fleshy seed-associated tissues. Here, Nigris and colleagues provide an overview of the vast diversity of fruit-like structures present in gymnosperms and the hypothesis available to explain their origin. Fleshy tissues have evolved multiple independent times through the evolution […]
A long-standing premise in plant ecology is that seed mass and growth rate are negatively correlated, meaning that small-seeded species grow faster than large-seeded ones. However, this relationship remains controversial given that the most common measurement for growth rate –Relative Growth Rate (RGR)– is dependent on plant size. Since this dependency makes it difficult to […]