Induction of vivipary in Arabidopsis by silique culture: implications for seed dormancy and germination

Culture of excised fruits (siliques) of different ages of Arabidopsis thaliana in a solidified mineral salt medium supplemented with vitamins, myo ‐inositol, and 3% sucrose induces vivipary. Whereas early stage and immature embryos complete their full development before germinating viviparously in seeds enclosed in the silique, mature green embryos enclosed in green ovules germinate without further growth in culture. Vivipary is not observed in cultured siliques enclosing brown ovules with yellowish mature embryos inside. Suggestive of a role for abscisic acid in preventing vivipary on the mother plant, addition of the hormone to the culture medium is found to inhibit vivipary in cultured siliques. Although dried green ovules enclosing mature embryos require a cold treatment for germination, undried ovules of the same age do not germinate even after a cold treatment. This indicates that mature embryos enclosed in green ovules that germinate viviparously are cold resistant and have not become dormant at the time of culture of siliques. The circumvention by silique culture of a cold treatment and light exposure normally required for germination of isolated seeds of A. thaliana provides new possibilities to study the molecular biology of vivipary and seed germination in this model plant.