De novo mRNA synthesis by Pol II drives the earliest seed germination stages, a conserved process in Arabidopsis and oilseed rape
The early phase of seed germination is believed to be independent of transcription and to rely on stored mRNA. Questioning this longstanding dogma, a project led by corresponding author Michał Krzysztoń from Szymon Świeżewski’s laboratory has shown that transcription is early and widespread during seed germination and that inhibiting it fully blocks seed germination. Importantly, they showed that the early transcription is conserved in oilseed rape, suggesting a key function in seed germination. Their work has been published in Nature Communications.