Tobacco Seed Germination Stress Assay
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FrontiersTobacco Seed Germination Stress Assay
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Vol 5, Iss 7, Apr 05, 2015
Stress Tolerance Assay at the Seed Germination Stage for Tobacco
1
Ajit Ghosh , Ashwani Pareek and Sneh L Singla-Pareek
1,*
Plant Molecular Biology Group, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology,
2
Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi, India; Stress Physiology and Molecular Biology Laboratory, School
of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
*For correspondence: sneh@[Link]
[Abstract] Stress tolerance of plants is a complex phenomenon that depends on the inter-related
action of several morphological, physiological and biochemical parameters. Although stress affects
normal physiological growth of a plant irrespective of its developmental stage, seed germination and
seed setting are considered to be the most sensitive two. Therefore, to evaluate the stress tolerance
potential of a particular plant species or variety, rate of seed germination in presence of stress is an
important agronomic trait. This will provide a clear indication about the stress tolerance potential with
minimum instrumentation facilities. The method is very simple, effective and highly reproducible that
would provide quick and reliable results to the researchers.
Materials and Reagents
1. Tobacco seeds (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. Petit Havana, wild type and transgenic)
2. Sterile distilled H2O
3. Ethanol
4. Para film
5. Murashige and Skoog medium salt (Caisson Laboratories, catalog number: MSP09-1lt)
6. Sucrose (Sigma-Aldrich, catalog number: S0389)
7. Agar (Plant tissue culture grade, Sigma-Aldrich, catalog number: A7921)
8. Stress reagents (such as NaCl for salinity stress, and H2O2 for oxidative stress)
9. Germination media (see Recipes)
Equipment
1. Microcentrifuge tubes
2. Growth chamber
3. Laminar flow cabinet
4. Petri plates (100 x 20 mm)
5. Whatman filter paper
6. Autoclaved forceps
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7. Electronic balance
Procedure
1. Preparation of media
Prepare half strength MS medium as described in the recipe. There is no need to add
anything externally to the medium for control plates, and autoclave directly. To mimic stress
condition during germination, add stress inducing agents such as 200 mM NaCl for salinity
stress to the medium before autoclaving. But for oxidative stress, add 5 mM H2O2 to the
medium after autoclaving. After autoclaving, allow the medium to cool down to around 40 to
50 C temperature and then pour into sterilized petridishes (100 x 20 mm). After that, let the
medium to solidify and seal the petridishes properly with para film if not to be used
immediately.
2. Seeds sterilization
As the seeds could be contaminated by fungi or bacteria during maturation or harvesting or
storage, they need to be surface sterilized properly before germinating in a nutrient rich
medium. The steps of seed sterilization are described below:
a. Put certain amount of seeds (around 200) into a 1.5 ml Eppendorf tube.
b. Add 1 ml of 70% ethanol.
c.
Briefly shake for less than 1 min (strictly not more than that).
d. Pour off ethanol.
e. Rinse with sterile distilled water for 3 to 5 times.
3. Germination of seeds
Keep the plates with media open in a laminar flow cabinet for some time to remove the
surface moisture (if any). Then place the sterile seeds (around 20) on the media in three
separate plates (for biological replicates) with autoclaved sharp end forceps. After putting
seeds, seal the plates properly with para film and keep in the growth chamber under dark
(Figure 1b). The plates should be kept in dark for 3 to 4 days and then keep under normal
long day condition (16/8 h light/dark cycle) at 26 2 C for 15 days. Monitor the growth of
seedlings every day (Figure 1c-d).
4. Rate of seed germination calculation
Allow the seedlings to germinate and grow for certain period (10 to 15 days) under both
control and stress condition. Count the number of germinated seedlings for each line in all the
three biological replicates of both control and stress condition. Rate of seed germination for
each line was calculated using the following equation.
Germination rate (%) = (Average number of seeds germinated under stress condition/
Average number of seeds germinated under control condition) x 100%
5. Stress tolerance index (STI) calculation
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Vol 5, Iss 7, Apr 05, 2015
Measure the fresh weight of 10 seedlings in triplicates for each line under both control and
stress conditions and calculate the stress tolerance index (STI) using the following equation
(Mustafiz et al., 2014).
STI (%) = (Average fresh weight of 10 stressed seedlings/Average fresh weight of 10 control
seedlings) x 100%
Representative data
(A)
(B)
WT
Line-3
Line-1
Line-2
(D)
(C)
Figure 1. Seed germination assay for stress tolerance. (A) Pictorial depiction of the position of
various type of tobacco seeds WT (wild type; non-transgenic) and three different transgenic lines;
line-1, line-2 and line-3) used in the study. (B) Inoculation of seeds in the MS medium alone
(experimental control) or MS medium supplemented with 200 mM NaCl for salinity stress.
Germination of seeds after 15 days under control condition (C) and stress condition (D). Transgenic
seeds showed higher germination rate and better seedling growth as compared to the WT under
stress condition.
Notes
1. Seed sterilization with 70% ethanol for more than one minute will lead to complete inhibition
of germination. So do not exceed the time.
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2. As germination of seeds may vary based on plant species, seed storage conditions, type and
degree of imposed stress, experiment should be monitored regularly (not strictly 15 days) for
distinguishable results.
Recipes
1. Germination media (1 L)
1/2 Murashige and Skoog medium salt (2.215 gm)
30 g sucrose
Adjust pH to 5.7 with 1 M NaOH
Add 0.8% agar
Then autoclave for 15 min
Acknowledgments
Authors thank International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New
Delhi, India for funding research.
References
1. Mustafiz, A., Ghosh, A., Tripathi, A. K., Kaur, C., Ganguly, A. K., Bhavesh, N. S., Tripathi, J.
K., Pareek, A., Sopory, S. K. and Singla-Pareek, S. L. (2014). A unique Ni
2+
-dependent and
methylglyoxal-inducible rice glyoxalase I possesses a single active site and functions in
abiotic stress response. Plant J 78(6): 951-963.