Wheat ABA-insensitive mutants result in reduced grain dormancy

This paper describes the isolation of wheat mutants in the hard red spring Scarlet resulting in reduced sensitivity to the plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) during seed germination. ABA induces seed dormancy during embryo maturation and inhibits the germination of mature seeds. Wheat sensitivity to ABA gradually decreases with dry after-ripening. Scarlet grain normally fails to germinate when fully dormant, shows ABA sensitive germination when partially after-ripened, and becomes ABA insensitive when after-ripened for 8–12 months. Scarlet ABA-insensitive (ScABI) mutants were isolated based on the ability to germinate on 5 μM ABA after only 3 weeks of after-ripening, a condition under which Scarlet would fail to germinate. Six independent seed-specific mutants were recovered. ScABI1, ScABI2, ScABI3 and ScABI4 are able to germinate more efficiently than Scarlet at up to 25 μM ABA. The two strongest ABA insensitive lines, ScABI3 and ScABI4, both proved to be partly dominant suggesting that they result from gain-of-function mutations. The ScABI1, ScABI2, ScABI3, ScABI4, and ScABI5 mutants after-ripen more rapidly than Scarlet. Thus, ABA insensitivity is associated with decreased grain dormancy in Scarlet wheat. This suggests that ABA sensitivity is an important factor controlling grain dormancy in wheat, a trait that impacts seedling emergence and pre-harvest sprouting resistance.