Recently, Jing Bo Jin’s research group from the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, found that SUMOylation of AL6 regulates seed dormancy and thermoinhibition by regulating DOG1 transcription. SUMO E3 ligase SIZ1-mediated SUMOylation of AL6 is required for its association with the DOG1 locus and protects it from protein degradation, consequently repressing DOG1 transcription. High temperatures decrease SUMOylation levels of AL6, resulting in downregulation of AL6 protein levels and an increase in DOG1 transcription. Thus, the reversible SUMOylation of AL6 fine-tunes DOG1 expression, ensuring precise establishment of seed dormancy and inhibition of seed germination under high-temperature conditions.

This finding has been published in New Phytologist entitled “SUMOylation of AL6 regulates seed dormancy and thermoinhibition in Arabidopsis”.

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China and the Academician Workstation of Agricultural High-tech Industrial Area of the Yellow River Delta，National Center of Technology Innovation for Comprehensive Utilization of Saline-Alkali Land.