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JXB Advance Access published online on November 17, 2007
Journal of Experimental Botany, doi:10.1093/jxb/erm250
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© 2007 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This paper is available online free of all access charges (see http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/open_access.html for further details)

RESEARCH PAPER

Changes in water status and water distribution in maturing lupin seeds studied by MR imaging and NMR spectroscopy

Malgorzata Garnczarska1,*, Tomasz Zalewski2 and Marek Kempka2

1Department of Plant Physiology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Umultowska 89, 61-614 Poznan, Poland
2Department of Macromolecular Physics, Adam Mickiewicz University, Umultowska 85, 61-614 Poznan, Poland

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: garnczar{at}main.amu.edu.pl

The changes in water distribution in maturing lupin (Lupinus luteus L.) seeds were visualized with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI data showed local inhomogeneities of water distribution inside the seed. At the late seed-filling stage the most intense signal was detected in the seed coat and the outer parts of cotyledons in the hilum area, but during maturation drying the decline in MR image intensity was faster in the outer part of the seed than in the central part. The changes in water status were characterized by NMR spectroscopy. Analyses of T2 relaxation times revealed a three-component water proton system in maturing lupin seeds. Three populations of protons found during seed maturation, each with a different magnetic environment causing a different relaxation rate, were correlated with three fractions of water (structural, intracellular, and extracellular) that were observed during seed germination. This study provides evidence that lupin seeds have similar states of the different water components with regard to seed moisture content at two distinct physiological stages, seed maturation and germination. The unique feature of maturing lupin seeds is the presence of the high 1H-NMR signal in areas corresponding to the vascular bundles. Tissue localization of dehydrins showed the presence of dehydrin protein in the area of vascular tissue. An anti-dehydrin antibody detected three polypeptides in lupin embryos with molecular masses of 73, 43 and 28 kDa, respectively. The temporal pattern of dehydrin protein accumulation correlates well with seed desiccation.

Key words: 1H-NMR, dehydrins, lupin, Lupinus luteus, MRI, seed maturation, T2 relaxation, water content

Received 11 May 2007; Revised 30 July 2007 Accepted 17 September 2007


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