Tiarella polyphylla D. Don is a native plant distributed only in Ulleung Island in Korea and has been traditionally used for medicinal purposes, although it is also used ornamentally. This study was conducted to determine the requirements for dormancy break and germination and to classify the type of seed dormancy. The experiments were performed with cold stratification (0 or 12 weeks at 5℃), warm stratification (0, 4, 8, or 12 weeks at 23℃, followed by 8 weeks at 5℃, and then incubation at 23℃), and GA3 treatments (0, 10, 100, or 1000 ㎎/L). The treated seeds were incubated on aseptic media at room chamber (23℃, a 16h photoperiod of fluorescent lamps with 40 μmol ․ m-2 ․ s-1). The seeds were dispersed in nature as underdeveloped embryos with no physical barrier to absorb water to prevent water absorption. However, the seeds did not germinate for 30 days after sowing without any pre-treatments. Thus, the seeds had morphological dormancy (MD) and physiological dormancy (PD). The final germination percentage following cold stratification (0 or 12 weeks) was 66.7% and 45.6%, respectively. The cold stratification delayed seed germination by about 3 weeks. In the warm stratification experiment (0, 4, 8, or 12 weeks), the final germination percentage was 21.1%, 27.8%, 41.1%, and 57.8%, respectively, 20 weeks after sowing. The embryos of the T. polyphylla seed grew in relatively warm temperatures (23℃). GA3 application overcame seed dormancy and promoted germination. Following GA3 treatment (0, 10, 100, or 1000 ㎎/L), the final germination percentage was 33.3%, 45.0%, 42.5%, and 72.5%, respectively. These results suggest that the T. polyphylla seeds had non-deep simple morphophysiological dormancy (MPD) and GA3 treatment could be used as a substitute for warm stratification for breaking seed dormancy. To our knowledge, this is the first report of seed dormancy characteristics of the genus Tiarella native to Korea.

헐떡이풀은 다년생 초본으로 중국, 일본, 대만 그리고 한국에 분포한다. 특히 우리나라에서는 울릉도에서만 분포하는데, 천식 치료, 타박상 그리고 청각장애의 치료에 사용된다. 약용작물로써의 높은 가치에도 불구하고 염색체 수를 제외한 다른 세포유전학적인 연구가 거의 이루어지지 않았다. 따라서 핵형분석 뿐만 아니라 bicolor FISH를 통한 5S 와 45S rDNA의 물리적 지도작성에 관한 연구가 수행되었다. 체세포 염색체 수는 2n=2x=14로 염색체의 길이는 1.66~3.50μm 이다. 또한 염색체의 구성은 4쌍의 차중부 염색체(염색체 1, 2, 3, 6)와 2쌍의 차단부 염색체(염색체 5, 7)그리고 1쌍의 단부 염색체(염색체 4)로 확인되었다. 또한 4번 염색체가 부수체 염색체로 관찰되었다. Bicolor-FISH를 통해 각각 1쌍의 5S와 45S rDNA 위치를 확인하였는데, 5S rDNA의 경우 염색체 3번의 동원체 부위에서 확인되었고, 45S rDNA는 염색체 4번의 단완 말단 부위에서 관찰되었다. Bicolor-FISH는 헐떡이풀 염색체상에 rDNA 유전자의 위치 확인에 매우 유용한 정보를 제공하는 기술로 사용되었다.