© 2008 The Author(s).
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RESEARCH PAPER |
Deterioration of western redcedar (Thuja plicata Donn ex D. Don) seeds: protein oxidation and in vivo NMR monitoring of storage oils
1Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada
2Plant Biotechnology Institute, National Research Council Canada, 110 Gymnasium Place, Saskatoon, SK S7N 0W9, Canada
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: kermode{at}sfu.ca
Deterioration of conifer seeds during prolonged storage has a negative impact on reforestation and gene conservation efforts. Western redcedar (Thuja plicata Donn ex D. Don) is a species of tremendous value to the forest industry. The seeds of this species are particularly prone to viability losses during long-term storage. Reliable tools to assess losses in seed viability during storage and their underlying causes, as well as the development of methods to prevent storage-related deterioration of seeds are needed by the forest industry. In this work, various imaging methods and biochemical analyses were applied to study deterioration of western redcedar seeds. Seedlots that exhibited poor germination performance, i.e. those that had experienced the greatest losses of viability during prolonged storage, exhibited greater abundance of oxidized proteins, detected by protein oxidation assays, and more pronounced changes in their in vivo 13C NMR spectra, most likely due to storage oil oxidation. The proportion of oxidized proteins also increased when seeds were subjected to accelerated ageing treatments. Detection of oxidized oils and proteins may constitute a reliable and useful tool for the forest industry.
Key words: Conifer seeds, in vivo NMR spectroscopy, MRI, oil peroxidation, protein carbonylation, seed deterioration, seed storage, storage lipids, western redcedar
Received 23 May 2007; Revised 28 November 2007 Accepted 17 December 2007
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