Identification and disruption of an Arabidopsis zinc finger gene controlling seed germination

We describe here the Arabidopsis gene DAG1, encoding a zinc finger transcri ption factor of the Dof family, and show that it is involved in the control of seed germination. By a reverse genetics approach, we isolated an Arabid opsis mutant line with one T-DNA insertion in DAG1. Seeds from homozygous k nockout dag1-1 plants do not develop dormancy and germinate also in the abs ence of light. Segregation analysis indicates that the effect of the mutati on is maternal. Accordingly, in situ mRNA hybridizations reveal expression of DAG1 in the vascular tissue of the flower and maturing fruit but not in the seed.