Temperature variability is integrated by a spatially embedded decision-making center to break dormancy in Arabidopsis seeds

作者：Alexander T. Topham, Rachel E. Taylor, Dawei Yan, Eiji Nambara, Iain G. Johnston, George W. Bassel · 发表于：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 年份：2017 · DOI：10.1073/pnas.1704745114 · 被引用次数：127 · 研究领域：Seed Germination and Physiology、Plant Molecular Biology Research、Plant Parasitism and Resistance

seeds. A digital single-cell atlas mapping the distribution of hormone metabolic and response components revealed their enrichment within the embryonic radicle, identifying the presence of a decision-making center within dormant seeds. The responses to both GA and ABA were found to occur within distinct cell types, suggesting cross-talk occurs at the level of hormone transport between these signaling centers. We describe theoretically, and demonstrate experimentally, that this spatial separation within the decision-making center is required to process variable temperature inputs from the environment to promote the breaking of dormancy. In contrast to other noise-filtering systems, including human neurons, the functional role of this spatial embedding is to leverage variability in temperature to transduce a fate-switching signal within this biological system. Fluctuating inputs therefore act as an instructive signal for seeds, enhancing the accuracy with which plants are established in ecosystems, and distributed computation within the radicle underlies this signal integration mechanism.