A Raf-like kinase is required for smoke-induced seed dormancy in Arabidopsis thaliana

背景回顾：Plants sense and integrate diverse stimuli to determine the timing for germination. A smoke compound, 3,4,5-trimethylfuran-2(5H)-one (trimethylbutenolide, TMB), has been identified to inhibit the seed germination of higher plants. 

研究目的：To understand the mode of action, we examined various physiological and molecular aspects of the TMB-dependent inhibition of seed germination in Arabidopsis thaliana. 

结果1-TMB作用方式：The results indicated that the effect of TMB is due to the enhanced physiological dormancy, which is modulated by other dormancy regulatory cues such as after-ripening, stratification, and ABA/GA signaling. In addition, gene expression profiling showed that TMB caused genome-wide transcriptional changes, altering the expression of a series of dormancy-related genes. 

结果2-筛突变体：Based on the TMB-responsive physiological contexts in Arabidopsis, we performed mutant screening to isolate genetic components that underpin the TMB-induced seed dormancy. As a result, the TMB-RESISTANT1 (TES1) gene in Arabidopsis, encoding a B2 group Raf-like kinase, was identified. 

结果3-TES1基因功能：Phenotypic analysis of the tes1 mutant implicated that TES1 has a critical role in the TMB-responsive gene expression and the inhibition of seed germination. 

结论：Taken together, we propose that plants have been equipped with a TMB sensory pathway through which the TMB induces the seed dormancy in a TES1-dependent way.

植物感知并整合多种刺激以决定发芽的时机。一种烟雾的复合物3,4,5-三甲基呋喃-2(5H)-酮（trimethylbutenolide, TMB）能够抑制高等植物的种子萌发。为了深入理解这一现象的背后机制，作者对拟南芥中TMB依赖型的种子发芽抑制进行了各种生理和分子实验。这些实验结果表明，TMB的种子发芽抑制功能是通过加强种子的生理休眠来实现的，而TMB对于种子的休眠调控会受到其它休眠通路的影响，比如种子后熟、层积处理或者ABA/GA信号转导。另外，基因表达谱显示TMB会引起整个基因组层面的转录变化，改变了一系列与休眠相关基因的表达水平。基于拟南芥的TMB响应生理表型，作者进行了突变体筛选，分离出TMB诱导种子休眠的关键基因。结果，作者鉴定到了一个B2类Raf-like激酶编码基因TES1。对于tes1突变体的表型分析显示，TES1在TMB响应基因表达和种子发芽抑制方面发挥重要作用。综上，作者提出植物中存在一个TMB感知通路，TMB通过该通路以TES1依赖型的方式来诱导种子的休眠。