New Preprint From Our Team!!

Have you ever also caught yourself awake in the middle of the night thinking: “𝘐𝘧 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵?” 💦 🚫 🌱 😵

I bring you some good news! In our new preprint, we uncovered some answers!! 👉🏾Drying kinetics govern transcriptional and post-transcriptional reprogramming during seed maturation | bioRxiv

We explored how different drying regimes during seed maturation shape the acquisition of desiccation tolerance (DT) & the molecular programs behind these processes. ⏱️

We used developing Arabidopsis seeds exposed to fast drying, slow drying, or combinations of both, and we found something fascinating:

 <<<Developing seeds can actually respond to drying and use it as a signal to prepare for survival>>>

- Slow drying doesn’t just preserve seeds, it actively accelerates DT acquisition & even promotes maturation.

- Different drying regimes trigger distinct transcriptional and post-transcriptional responses, including large-scale gene downregulation & shifts in co-translational mRNA decay.

- Fast drying, surprisingly, activates defense-like responses that may come at a cost for seed longevity.

- Perhaps most intriguingly, many of these drying-mediated responses appear largely independent of canonical ABA levels, suggesting additional mechanisms by which seeds perceive and respond to water loss.

Our work brings together our interests in seed physiology, drying regulation, & the molecular basis of DT, & raises a broader question:

𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐥? (🙃 spoiler alert...🤩 🤫 🤐 🧐 )

Huge congrats to our brilliant PhD candidate Asif Ahmed Sami for his absolutely neat work on putting this manuscript together. 💫 And big thanks to the greatest collaboration team: Leónie Bentsink Rémy MERRET Leo Willems Lukman Abdulroheem Marie-Christine Carpentier. 🍀

And of course, thanks to the valuable support of our funding agencies, specially NWO (Dutch Research Council)! 🙌🏾

Six years ago, I’d wake up thinking about this one question. Now I wake up thinking about all the new questions our work has opened up! 😅 🦉

We’d love to hear thoughts from colleagues working in seed biology, stress physiology, RNA biology, and plant development.

#SeedBiology #DesiccationTolerance #SeedPhysiology #PlantScience #platscifyi #SeedScience #Arabidopsis #StressBiology #Preprint #SeedMaturation #SeedDrying #SeedLongevity #DryingWithoutDying #ClimateChange #SeedResearch #FineDrying #SeedPreparationForTheDryState