Reduced expression of the DOG1 gene in Arabidopsis mutant seeds lacking the transcript elongation factor TFIIS

TFIIS is a transcript elongation factor that facilitates transcription by RNA polymerase II through blocks to elongation. Arabidopsis plants lacking TFIIS are affected in seed dormancy, which represents a block to complete germination under favourable conditions. We have comparatively profiled the transcript levels of seeds of tfIIs mutants and control plants. Among the differentially expressed genes, the DOG1 gene was identified that is a QTL for seed dormancy. The reduced expression of DOG1 in tfIIs seeds was confirmed by quantitative RT-PCR and Northern analyses, suggesting that down-regulation of DOG1 expression is involved in the seed dormancy phenotype of tfIIs mutants.