Fingerprinting of volatile organic compounds for quick assessment of vigour status of seeds

Abstract

Seed is a fertilized mature ovule, which possesses an embryonic plant. When the dry, mature seeds are subjected to imbibition, they release a wide range of organic substances, which include low molecular weight carbonyl compounds (gases and volatiles) and water-soluble organic substances (enzymes and polysaccharides). The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are molecules of low molecular weight (300 g mol−1) and high vapour pressure (0.01 kPa at 20°C) and include diverse chemical compounds. The nature and emission kinetics of volatiles produced from seeds vary, depending on the moisture content of the seeds. Orthodox seeds stored at ‘low seed moisture content’ undergo seed deterioration, predominantly due to lipid peroxidation, initiated by autoxidation or enzymatic oxidation of unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acids. This peroxidation leads to emission of volatile compounds. The quantity of VOCs emitted is positively correlated with the advancement of seed deterioration. With respect to the seed germination process, exposure of seeds to ‘high moisture conditions’ leads to increased respiration, triggers glycolysis and mobilization of storage reserves, resulting in the emission of volatile metabolic products. The quantity of VOCs emitted on commencement of metabolic activity in germinating seeds depends on (1) vigour status and (2) amount of storage reserves. Since it has been established that there is a significant difference between high and low vigour seeds with respect to quantity and profile of VOCs emitted, there is great potential for utilizing the VOC profile to obtain a quick and reproducible test of vigour status of crop seeds. In order to harness the VOC profile for quick assessment of vigour status of seeds, research has to be taken up to develop standard protocols for fingerprinting of VOCs for the purpose of seed vigour assessment and to fix the standard volatile biomarker(s) specific to crop and vigour status of seeds.

Analysis of Stored mRNA Degradation in Acceleratedly Aged Seeds of Wheat and Canola in Comparison to Arabidopsis

“…Additionally, different species may have different expected seed longevity under the same storage conditions [8,16], making seed longevity prediction more difficult for genebank management. Thus, some studies have been conducted to explore seed aging processes and status with the hope of facilitating the development of effective biomarkers for monitoring seed aging under storage conditions [2,3,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. The studies included the analyses of glutathione half-cell reduction potential [28], volatile organic compound fingerprint [25][26][27], RNA integrity [29,30], thermal profile [24], and molecular mobility [23] in aged seeds.…”

Assessment of rice (Co 51) seed ageing through volatile organic compound analysis using Headspace-Solid Phase Micro Extraction/ Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (HS-SPME/GCMS)

“…Aldehydes are the major volatiles emitted due to lipid peroxidation, hexanal, Nonenal and 2,4-Nonadienal were the volatiles associated with the degradation of linoleic acid (Meenakshi et al, 2020). According to Umarani et al, (2020) the changes in the release of volatile aldehydes, especially malondialdehyde due to lipid peroxidation process found to highly reduced the seed viability. The second oxidative stress messenger namely 4-hydroxy-2,3- respectively.…”

“…Saturated aldehydes such as hexanal are the potential biomarkers of lipid peroxidation during storage of seeds. These volatile organic compounds are toxic to seeds and give a path to free radical production and finally deterioration of seeds during storage (Meenakshi, 2020; Umarani et al, 2020). Hence, the present study was conducted to profile the volatile organic compounds emitted from rice seeds during storage and identify the major volatile organic compounds involved in seed deterioration.…”

Systematic Review - State of the Art: strategies for vigor evaluation and production of high-vigor soybean seeds

“…There are other techniques surveyed in this review that have not yet been tested on seeds of other crops besides soybean, such as SeedGerm for image analysis with hardware and software (Matlab) (Colmer et al, 2020), X-ray technique, Thermal imaging, Electronic nose (Rhaman and Cho, 2016;Umarani et al, 2020), Raman spectroscopy and Infrared thermography (Xia et al, 2019).…”