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Mitochondria play a crucial role in germination and early seedling growth in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Morphological observations of mitochondria revealed that mitochondrial numbers, typical size, and oval morphology were evident after 12 h of imbibition in continuous light (following 48 h of stratification). The transition from a dormant to an active metabolic state was punctuated by an early molecular switch, characterized by a transient burst in the expression of genes encoding mitochondrial proteins. Factors involved in mitochondrial transcription and RNA processing were overrepresented among these early-expressed genes. This was closely followed by an increase in the transcript abundance of genes encoding proteins involved in mitochondrial DNA replication and translation. This burst in the expression of factors implicated in mitochondrial RNA and DNA metabolism was accompanied by an …