Sugars act as signal molecules and osmotica to regulate the expression of alpha-amylase genes and metabolic activities in germinating cereal grains.

The molecular mechanisms that initiate and control the metabolic activities of seed germination are largely unknown. Sugars may play important roles in regulating such metabolic activities in addition to providing an essential carbon source for the growth of young seedlings and maintaining turgor pressure for the expansion of tissues during germination. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the physiological role of sugars in the regulation of alpha-amylase gene expression and carbohydrate metabolism in embryo and endosperm of germinating rice seeds. RNA gel blot analysis revealed that in the embryo and aleurone cells, expression of four alpha-amylase genes was differentially regulated by sugars via mechanisms beyond the well-known hormonal control mechanism. In the aleurone cells, expression of these alpha-amylase genes was regulated by gibberellins produced in the embryo and by osmotically active sugars. In the embryo, expression of two alpha-amylase genes and production of gibberellins were transient, and were probably induced by depletion of sugars in the embryo upon imbibition, and suppressed by sugars influx from the endosperm as germination proceeded. The deferential expression of the four alpha-amylase genes in the embryo and aleurone cells was probably due to their markedly different sensitivities to changes in tissue sugar levels. Our study supports a model in which sugars regulate the expression of alpha-amylase genes in a tissue-specific manner: via a feedback control mechanism in the embryo and via an osmotic control mechanism in the aleurone cells. An interactive loop among sugars, gibberellins, and alpha-amylase genes in the germinating cereal grain is proposed.