A New Lea Gene is Induced During Osmopriming of Capsicum annuum L. Seeds

The aim of this study was to characterize the transcriptional expression patterns of a new lea gene isolated in a previous work from C. annuum cv. caballero seeds when osmoprimed with PEG and GA sub(3). Capsicum annuum is one of the main horticultural crops in Mexico and routinely their seeds have problems when germinating. To correct this problem, osmopriming treatments based on PEG and GA has been used to improve their vigor. Osmopriming is a strategy developed to improve vigor during seed storage, which causes a reduction in germinability and seedling establishment. Osmopriming consists of the pre-imbibition of seeds in a solution containing an inert osmotic agent such as polyethylene glycol (PEG). In combination with PEG, several other compounds such as gibberellic acid (GA) can be used in order to improve the vigor of seeds. Several ESTs with high induced expression in the osmopriming treatment displayed high homology to LEA proteins and one of them corresponded to a complete cDNA coding a new LEA protein of 73 amino acids (Ca/ea 73 gene). This gene was highly induced in osmoprimed treatments in which KNO sub(3) instead of GA sub(3)was used in combination with PEG on C. annuum cv. caballero seeds. To our knowledge this is the shortest lea gene reported so far.