Page 101 - The Miracle In The Seed

Germination: The Vital Phase

80
Digestive enzyme (units per seed)
leaf
60 First foliage 30
40 Starch 20 Endosperm starch (mg per seed)
20 Digestive Coleoptile 10

0 enzyme 2 3 4 5 6 0
1
Starchy Days of germination
endosperm Digestive enzymes Coleoptile
Aleurone
layer

Nutrients
Starch remaining
Cotyledon Root
a b c d e
(a) When the seed absorbs water, gibberellin (GA), a growth-regulating hormone,
is released from embryo into endosperm. (b) Production of digestive enzymes
begins. (c) Enzymes break down starch and other molecules in endosperm, re-
leasing soluble nutrients, which the cotyledon absorbs. (d) The absorbed nutri-
ents are delivered to the shoot and root. The first foliage leaf emerges. (e) By the
time storage reserves are depleted, the first foliage leaf has expanded and begun
photosynthesis. (Solomon, Berg, Martin, Villie, Biology, p. 768.)

When people plant a seed in the ground, they generally know
nothing about these processes. A few days later when the seed germi-
nates and begins to develop into a plant, they see it as a natural
process, even though the processes are extremely complex. Once the
right conditions are created, a sequence of chemical operations is per-
formed: One enzyme acts on another to transform the seed into a plant.
Thinking a little more deeply about these perfect systems, you will
come face to face with the great fact of creation. If one component is
missing, the others cannot be activated. It is obvious that such intricate
systems cannot be the product of pure coincidence. Moreover, this per-
fect system doesn’t end with germination, but continues with even
more miraculous processes.