There has been a long-standing question in seed research, why cyanide, a respiration inhibitor, breaks seed dormancy. While the alternative respiratory pathway and reactive oxygen species have been suggested to be part of the mechanism, the cell biological and mechanistic significance of this paradox remains unclear. The outcomes of recent research on mitochondrial RNA processing for the subunits of the electron transport chain complexes seem to offer a logical explanation. This opinion article attempts to integrate the accumulating evidence of mitochondrial involvement in ABA signaling with the frontier of seed research on DELAY OF GERMINATION1, a master regulator of dormancy, to present a coherent model for ABA signaling in seeds, which could also address the old paradox in seed research.

种子研究中存在一个长期存在的问题，为什么呼吸抑制物氰化物会破坏种子的休眠状态。虽然已提出替代呼吸途径和活性氧是该机制的一部分，但这种矛盾的细胞生物学和机制意义仍不清楚。关于电子传输链复合物亚单位的线粒体RNA加工的最新研究成果似乎提供了合乎逻辑的解释。这篇观点文章试图将线粒体参与ABA信号传导的积累证据与休眠的主要调控者DELAY OF GERMINATION1的种子研究前沿相结合，以提出种子中ABA信号传导的连贯模型，这也可能解决旧的悖论。在种子研究中。