The pleiotropic effects of lec mutations, represented
in Fig. 1, suggest that the LEC genes serve as central
regulators of embryo and seed development. This prediction was
confirmed by showing that LEC1 and FUS3 encode
putative transcription factors that regulate critical embryonic
processes (12, 19, 20). Here we present evidence suggesting that
LEC2 likely encodes a transcriptional regulator with a
significant role in embryogenesis.