scholarly journals Are obligatory apomicts invested in the pollen tube transmitting tissue? Comparison of the micropyle ultrastructure between sexual and apomictic dandelions (Asteraceae, Lactuceae)

PROTOPLASMA ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 252 (5) ◽  
pp. 1325-1333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bartosz J. Płachno ◽  
Piotr Świątek ◽  
Małgorzata Kozieradzka-Kiszkurno ◽  
Ľuboš Majeský ◽  
Jolanta Marciniuk ◽  
...  
2020 ◽  
Vol 195 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-105
Author(s):  
Simone P Teixeira ◽  
Marina F B Costa ◽  
João Paulo Basso-Alves ◽  
Finn Kjellberg ◽  
Rodrigo A S Pereira

Abstract The synstigma is a structure formed by clusters of two to several stigmas, whether in the same or between different flowers. Although rare in angiosperms, synstigmas are found in c. 500 out of the c. 750 Ficus spp. (Moraceae). This floral structure is associated with fig-fig wasp pollinating mutualism. The synstigma structure and pollen tube pathways were studied in six Ficus spp. from Ficus section Americanae to test the hypothesis that the synstigma allows pollen grains deposited on a stigma to emit pollen tubes that can grow laterally and fertilize surrounding flowers. Syconia containing recently pollinated stigmas were collected and dissected, and the stigmas were processed for analyses with light and scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The arrangement of the synstigmas across species can be spaced or congested, with the number of stigmas per synstigma ranging from two to 20. Contact between the stigmas in a synstigma occurs by the intertwining of the stigmatic branches and papillae; their union is firm or loose. The pollen tube grows through live cells of the transmitting tissue until reaching the ovule micropyle. Curved pollen tubes growing from one stigma to another were observed in five out of the six species studied. The curvilinear morphology of pollen tubes probably results from competition by pollen between the stigmas composing a synstigma via chemotropic signals. The synstigma appears to be a key adaptation that ensures seed production by flowers not exploited by the fig wasps in actively pollinated Ficus spp.


2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 165-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ettore Pacini ◽  
Massimo Nepi

The effects of pistil age on pollen tube growth, fruit development and seed set were studied in <em>Cucurbita pepo</em> L., the flower of which opens for only six hours. Stigma receptivity lasts four days, from one day before until two days after anthesis. Style receptivity lasts three days, from the day before to the day after anthesis. Ovule receptivity lasts two days: the day of anthesis and the day before. The rate of pollen tube growth varies in different parts of the pistil and in relation to pistil age. In the stigmatic and stylar region, the tubes grow faster if pollination occurs the day before anthesis; in the ovary they grow faster when pollination occurs at anthesis. In the receptacle region, where the transmitting tissue is reduced, the growth rate decreases independently of the time of pollination. The fruits are larger and heavier with more seeds when pollination occurs at anthesis. There is a positive correlation between seed number and fruit weight when pollination occurred at anthesis and the day before.


1990 ◽  
Vol 95 (4) ◽  
pp. 659-665
Author(s):  
LUISA CARRARO ◽  
P. D. GEROLA ◽  
GIULIANA LOMBARDO ◽  
F. M. GEROLA

Apoplastic peroxidase distribution in transmitting tissue of the stylar ‘neck’ was investigated using the DAB cytochemical reaction applied to electron microscopy in non-, self- and cross-pollinated pistils of Primula acaulis (‘pin’ morph) exposed or not to ultraviolet (u.v.) irradiation. In non-irradiated flowers, apoplastic peroxidase activity, which is present in non-pollinated pistils, is increased by self-pollination, whereas cross-pollination causes its disappearance from the central portion of the transmitting tissue. Apoplastic peroxidases localized in the central portion of the transmitting tissue are supposed to play a role in the predisposition of the pistil to reject incompatible pollen tubes and in the rejection mechanism itself. Pistil irradiation with u.v., which induces pseudo-self-compatibility, modified the aforementioned apoplastic peroxidase distribution. Shortly after u.v. irradiation of nonpollinated styles, apoplastic peroxidase activity was absent from the central portion of the transmitting tissue; some hours later peroxidase activity was restored, and 40 h after treatment, the ‘normal’ peroxidase distribution was observed. Our data suggest an u.v.-induced temporary removal of the ‘predisposition for incompatible pollen tube rejection. Moreover, soon after irradiation, the usually observed peroxidase production due to self-pollination was inhibited. Pseudo-self-compatibility, observed when self-pollination was carried out immediately after u.v. irradiation, was due to incompatible pollen tube elongation in a transmitting tissue devoid of apoplastic peroxidases and hindered in the rejection mechanism. However, pseudo-self-compatible pollen tube growth was not accompanied by the dramatic changes in transmitting tissue ultrastructure observed after compatible cross-pollination. The data indicate that, even if incompatible pollen tubes are not ‘rejected’, they are still ‘recognized’ and hindered in their absorption of cellular reserves from the transmitting tissue.


1989 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 397 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Sedgley ◽  
FC Hand ◽  
RM Smith ◽  
AR Griffin

Pistils of Eucalyptus regnans were observed by bright field, fluorescence, phase contrast, Nomarski, and scanning electron microscopy from 4 weeks prior to anthesis to 16 weeks after self- and cross- pollination. The transmitting tissue of the style had a central canal which extended for half its length. The unfertilised ovary contained a mean of 30.5 ovular structures with 16.5 normal ovules, 2.5 abnor- mal ovules, and 11.5 sterile ovulodes. The ovules were arranged in two rows in three (occasionally four) locules. The ovulodes always occupied positions at the stylar end of the ovary, but with this exception there was no pattern to the occurrence of the abnormal ovules. Pollen tubes grew between the cells'of the transmitting tissue, and not in the stylar canal. Penetration of the ovules had commenced by 5 days after both self- and cross-pollination. The early fertilised ovule contained a zygote and free-nuclear endosperm, and embryos with between 1 and 16 cells were present at 16 weeks after pollination. Not all normal ovules were fertilised, despite adequate numbers of pollen tubes. Ovulodes were never observed to be penetrated by a pollen tube, but with this exception there was no relationship between position on the placenta and either the penetration of ovules by a pollen tube or the occurrence of fertilised ovules. There was no difference between self- and cross-pollination in either the number of ovules penetrated by a pollen tube, or the number of fertilised ovules up to 16 weeks following pollination.


1996 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 649 ◽  
Author(s):  
SP Obrien

The stigma of Chamelaucium uncinatum Schauer is small and unreceptive at anthesis, but increases in size and becomes fully receptive 7 days after anthesis. After germination, pollen tubes grow intercellularly through the stigma and transmitting tissue of the style. Chamelaucium uncinatum has a single loculus containing six ovules with axile placentation. The transmitting tissue skews to one side within the ovary and the pollen tubes grow into the placenta via an invagination along one end of the loculus. Pollen tubes are smooth-walled in the transmitting tissue of the style and ovary, but within the loculus pollen tubes produce short side branches. Secondary pollen presentation occurs in C. uncinatum with the stigmatic region being used as a pollen presenter. If the self-pollen is not removed from the stigma prior to the onset of receptivity self-pollination may occur.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Lora ◽  
Veronica Perez ◽  
Maria Herrero ◽  
Jose I. Hormaza

Most flowering plants show porogamy in which the pollen tubes reach the egg apparatus through the micropyle. However, several species show chalazogamy, an unusual pollen tube growth, in which the pollen tubes reach the embryo sac through the chalaza. While ovary signals for pollen tube growth and guidance have been extensively studied in porogamous species, few studies have addressed the process in chalazogamous species such as mango (Mangifera indica L.), one of the five most important fruit crops worldwide in terms of production. In this study, we characterize pollen–pistil interaction in mango, paying special attention to three key players known to be involved in the directional pollen tube growth of porogamous species such as starch, arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs), and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Starch grains were observed in the style and in the ponticulus at anthesis, but their number decreased 1 day after anthesis. AGPs, revealed by JIM8 and JIM13 antibodies, were homogenously observed in the style and ovary, but were more conspicuous in the nucellus around the egg apparatus. GABA, revealed by anti-GABA antibodies, was specifically observed in the transmitting tissue, including the ponticulus. Moreover, GABA was shown to stimulate in vitro mango pollen tube elongation. The results support the heterotrophic growth of mango pollen tubes in the style at the expense of starch, similarly to the observations in porogamous species. However, unlike porogamous species, the micropyle of mango does not show high levels of GABA and starch, although they were observed in the ponticulus and could play a role in supporting the unusual pollen tube growth in chalazogamous species.


1984 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-184
Author(s):  
M. Gaget ◽  
C. Said ◽  
C. Dumas ◽  
R.B. Knox

Intersectional crosses between species of sections Aigeiros (Populus deltoides, P. X euramericana or P. nigra) and Leuce (P. alba or P. tremuloides) are known to be reciprocally incompatible. The site of pollen tube arrest is on the stigma surface in pollinations between pistils of section Leuce and pollen of section Aigeiros; tubes failed to penetrate the stigma surface. In reciprocal matings, pollen of section Leuce germinated and tubes penetrated the stigma and style, where arrest occurred. Rejection may be accompanied by swelling of the tube tips, and callose plug formation. In the cross between P. deltoides and P. alba a callose response was detected in the cell walls of the transmitting tissue, adjacent to the rejected pollen tubes.


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