Seed distribution articles within Nature Communications

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mechanical dormancy imposed by a hard fruit pericarp prevents premature seed germination. Here, the authors show that the pericarp of Lepidium didymum prevents germination by limiting water uptake and that dormancy can be released by fungal activity that weakens predetermined breaking zones in the fruit coat.

    • Katja Sperber
    • , Tina Steinbrecher
    •  & Klaus Mummenhoff

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The DOG1 protein is a major regulator of seed dormancy in Arabidopsis. Here, Née et al. provide evidence that DOG1 can interact with the type 2C protein phosphatases AHG1 and AHG3 and that this represents the convergence point of the DOG1-regulated dormancy pathway and signalling by the plant hormone abscisic acid.

    • Guillaume Née
    • , Katharina Kramer
    •  & Wim J. J. Soppe

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Lodgepole pine dwarf mistletoe is a parasitic forest pathogen that disperses its seeds via an explosive discharge. Here, deBruyn et al. show that ripened mistletoe fruits generate heat less than two minutes before this discharge, suggesting a role for thermogenesis in seed dispersal.

    • Rolena A. J. deBruyn
    • , Mark Paetkau
    •  & Cynthia Ross Friedman

  • Article |

    Seed dispersal can determine the ability of plant species to track shifting climates; therefore, it can influence future biodiversity outcomes. Here, the authors model seed dispersal by fruit-eating vertebrates across the Australian Wet Tropics rainforest and find that it is projected to markedly decrease for many plant species.

    • Karel Mokany
    • , Soumya Prasad
    •  & David A. Westcott

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