Team effort: Combinatorial control of seed maturation by transcription factors

Seed development is under tight spatiotemporal regulation. Here, we summarize how transcriptional regulation helps shape the major traits during seed maturation, which include storage reserve accumulation, dormancy, desiccation toler-ance, and longevity. The regulation is rarely a solo task by an individual transcription factor (TF). Rather, it often involves coordinated recruitment or replacement of multiple TFs to achieve combinatorial regulation. We highlight recent progress on the transcriptional integration of activation and repression of seed maturation genes, and discuss potential research di-rections to further understand the TF networks of seed maturation.

Automated summary

Seed development is tightly regulated spatiotemporally, with transcriptional regulation playing a crucial role in shaping major traits during seed maturation. This regulation often involves coordinated recruitment or replacement of multiple transcription factors to achieve combinatorial regulation. Recent progress has been made in understanding the integration of activation and repression of seed maturation genes by transcriptional networks.