ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Unravelling the ageing mechanims of dry seeds: molecular mobility within biological glasses.

Abstract: Faster-than-expected ageing is observed in some seeds (e.g. orchids, coffee, citrus, willows) stored dry at -20°C, the standard temperatures of seed banks. This ageing has been related to two issues: unstable amorphous solids that retain high molecular mobility, and crystallization/melting events occurring in the seed storage lipids that are entrapped in the solid cytoplasm. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying seed ageing are not well explored due to the difficulty of measuring solid life at freezing temperatures. Biophysical tools are efficient to study these events and provide clues to improve current seed banking options. We plan to use neutron scattering techniques, a novel and innovative way to explore the ageing mechanisms of seeds, to research the crystallization and molecular mobility that could be leading to the fast ageing observed in seeds stored in seed banks.

Principal Investigator: Dr Daniel Ballesteros Bargues
Local Contact: Dr Victoria Garcia Sakai
Experimenter: Professor Hugh Pritchard

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2010521

ISIS Experiment Number: RB2010521

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Daniel Ballesteros Bargues et al; (2020): Unravelling the ageing mechanims of dry seeds: molecular mobility within biological glasses., STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2010521

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.