THE USE OF AN ELISA TO QUANTITATE THE EXTENT OF 11S GLOBULIN MOBILIZATION IN UNTREATED AND PRIMED SUGAR-BEET SEED LOTS

Seed priming (controlled imbibition) is a widely used technique for im proving crop establishment, because it at lows a reduction of the time to radicle emergence following seed imbibition and synchronization of individual seeds within seed lots with respect to germination timing. The major problem encountered in seed priming is the control of seed imbibition to a level permitting pre-germinative processes to proceed but that blocks radicle emergence. If not, the consequence of drying b ack the seeds to initial moisture content for storage purposes could b e a total loss of the treated batch. This is because, as long as radic le growth has not begun, seeds may be re-dried without any permanent d eleterious effects upon subsequent germination or growth. Recently, we reported the discovery of a molecular marker of sugar beet seed primi ng, corresponding to the basic B-subunit of the seed storage protein 1 1S globulin. An ELISA based upon this molecular marker has been used t o analyse how different sugar beet seed lots respond to a priming trea tment. The results demonstrate that this ELISA allows us to readily di stinguish between the primed seeds and the corresponding untreated see ds. ((C) Academie des sciences / Elsevier, Paris.).