Expression of a ribosomal protein gene during germination of cabbage (Brassica oleracea f. oleracea) seeds

A study was conducted to investigate the hypothesis that the expression of ribosomal protein genes is correlated with germination performance. Cabbage cv. Bartolo seeds were germinated under 25 or 35°C in darkness or in red light (652 nm, 26 W/m2), and imbibed either in water or in polyethylene glycol (PEG). The expression of the AtRPL27B and AtRPL36B genes were studied in relation to germination performance, using Arabidopsis thaliana genes as heterologous probes in Northern analysis. Both genes showed marginal expression in dry seeds, and increased expression was observed during germination in water. The expression decreased with increasing osmotic stress. The expression of both genes after 18 h in either water or PEG correlated with maximum germination and inversely with the period to reach 50% germination. The cabbage clone BoRPL27 showed high nucleotide similarity to putative A. thaliana RPL27 homologues located at chromosome 3.