Regulation of mucilage production in the Arabidopsis seed coat through MADS-box TF family members

Abstract

During Arabidopsis seed development, the epidermal cells of the seed coat produce large quantities of pectinaceous mucilage polysaccharides. Following imbition, mucilage is released from these cells and forms a thick protective layer around the germinating seed that can be visualised with Ruthenium Red staining. The seed coat epidermis is therefore an attractive system to investigate the production of cell wall polysaccharides, particularly pectin. Previously, mutations in the transcriptional regulator LEUNIG_HOMOLOG (LUH) have been shown to be associated with a mucilage extrusion defect that is caused by reduced expression of the β-galactosidase MUCILAGE MODIFIED2 (MUM2). To better understa..