Sexual reproduction of mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana)

1975 ◽  
Vol 53 (17) ◽  
pp. 1811-1826 ◽  
Author(s):  
John N. Owens ◽  
Marje Molder

Meiosis of pollen mother cells begins in October of the year in which cones are initiated. They reach pachytene then become dormant until the next March. Meiosis is complete and the winged pollen mature by mid-June. Meiosis of the megaspore mother cell occurs in May, forming a linear tetrad of megaspores. The female gametophyte undergoes free nuclear division at pollination in mid-June. No pollination drop is present; rather, the pollen adheres to the sticky, splayed edge of the micropyle, where it germinates and pollen tubes grow toward the nucellus. The nucellus elongates into the micropylar canal, forming a nucellar beak, which makes contact with the pollen tubes. Several pollen tubes penetrate the nucellus.At the time of fertilization early in August, each ovule contains two to four aichegonia each having two to four neck cells in one tier. Pollen tubes penetrate the neck cells and two male gametes are formed. The ventral canal cell breaks down and fusion occurs in the center of the archegonium. Four free nuclei form and migrate to the base of the archegonium. cell walls form, and a 16-celled proembryo develops. Both simple and cleavage polyembryony occur. Rosette cells divide but do not form complex embryos. The embryo and seed are mature in October and the cones dry and open during October and November. Mature cones averaged 70 seeds, of which 46% were filled.Reproduction in mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana (Bong.) Carr.) is similar to that in other species of Tsuga except for the presence of winged pollen. Any attempt to place the species in the genus Picea or place it as a hybrid midway between Picea and Tsuga is unfounded based on all of the more-conservative reproductive and embryological characteristics.

1975 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
John N. Owens ◽  
Marje Molder

After dormancy, both pollen- and seed-cone buds resume development early in April at higher elevations on Vancouver Island. Pollen, formed the previous fall, is shed at the one-celled stage during the last half of April. Pollination occurs during a 2-week period. Pollen frequently germinates and elongates in the pollination drop within the micropyle before reaching the nucellus. Pollen tubes penetrate most of the nucellus during May and early June, then pollen-tube growth slows or stops until mid-July when the pollen tubes quickly extend to the surface of the neck cells and two large, equal-sized male gametes form. Meiosis of the megaspore mother cells occurs during April and early May. Female gametophyte development, similar to that in other members of the Cupressaceae, occurs from late May until late July. An archegonial complex forms with an average of nine archegonia. Fertilization occurs at the end of July and proembryo development begins immediately. A file of four free nuclei forms. Considerable variation exists in subsequent nuclear divisions and cell-wall formation. This may result from the long, narrow archegonia and highly variable number of archegonia. A four-tiered proembryo forms and cleavage polyembryony occurs. The embryos reach the multicellular or the massive stage with secondary suspensors by October when the cones, containing ovules which were pollinated in April, become dormant. Embryo and seed development resume the next April, 1 year after pollination, and development is usually complete in July or August. Embryo development occurs more rapidly near sea level but is complete by fall of the year after pollination at all elevations studied. Most seed is shed early in the fall, but some seed may not be shed until January. The distinction is made between immature 1-year-old and mature 2-year-old seeds and cones. Cones contained an average of 7.2 seeds, of which only 29% were filled.


2014 ◽  
Vol 65 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 135-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir B. Brukhin ◽  
Peter V. Bozhkov

Crassinucellate ovules are initiated in <em>Taxus</em>, directly from the shoot apex. The rudimentary pollen chamber is formed in the nucellus. A linear tetrad of megaspores with a functional chalazal megaspore is formed. A free-nuclear stage is charac-teristic at the beginning of megagametophyte development. Archegonia without ventral canal cell are solitary or in complexes. The embryo has a very long suspensor even after maturation. Two types of polyembryony have been revealed: i) embryogenic redifferentiation of suspensor cells and ii) cleavage of embryonic region in the early embryo. In the northern temperate climate of St. Petersburg one month delay in development of reproductive structures has been noted.


2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (23) ◽  
pp. 3697-3709 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lihong Li ◽  
Shawna Miles ◽  
Zephan Melville ◽  
Amalthiya Prasad ◽  
Graham Bradley ◽  
...  

Yeast that naturally exhaust the glucose from their environment differentiate into three distinct cell types distinguishable by flow cytometry. Among these is a quiescent (Q) population, which is so named because of its uniform but readily reversed G1 arrest, its fortified cell walls, heat tolerance, and longevity. Daughter cells predominate in Q-cell populations and are the longest lived. The events that differentiate Q cells from nonquiescent (nonQ) cells are initiated within hours of the diauxic shift, when cells have scavenged all the glucose from the media. These include highly asymmetric cell divisions, which give rise to very small daughter cells. These daughters modify their cell walls by Sed1- and Ecm33-dependent and dithiothreitol-sensitive mechanisms that enhance Q-cell thermotolerance. Ssd1 speeds Q-cell wall assembly and enables mother cells to enter this state. Ssd1 and the related mRNA-binding protein Mpt5 play critical overlapping roles in Q-cell formation and longevity. These proteins deliver mRNAs to P-bodies, and at least one P-body component, Lsm1, also plays a unique role in Q-cell longevity. Cells lacking Lsm1 and Ssd1 or Mpt5 lose viability under these conditions and fail to enter the quiescent state. We conclude that posttranscriptional regulation of mRNAs plays a crucial role in the transition in and out of quiescence.


1964 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 157 ◽  
Author(s):  
PS Woodland

A comparative study was carried out between diploid and tetraploid races of Themeda australis from Armidale and Cobar, respectively. Some morphological variations occur in both populations, but sporogenesis and gametogenesis are identical. The anther is tetrasporangiate and the development of its four-layered wall is described. The tapetum is of the secretory type and its cells become binucleate at the initiation of meiosis in the adjacent microspore mother cells which undergo successive cytokinesis. Microspore tetrads are usually isobilateral and the pollen grains are three-celled at dehiscence, which takes place by lateral longitudinal slits. The ovule is of a modified anatropous form and bitegmic, the broad micropyle being formed of both integuments. The single hypodermal archesporial cell develops directly into the megaspore mother cell and the nucellar epidermis undergoes periclinal and anticlinal divisions to form a conspicuous epistase. The chalaza1 megaspore of the linear tetrad gives rise to a Polygonum-type embryo sac. Material from the Armidale population showed one embryo sac per ovule, but two to five embryo sacs were present in that from Cobar. Embryogeny is typically graminaceous and endosperm formation is at first free-nuclear, later becoming cellular. Polyembryony follows fertilization of several embryo sacs within the same ovule. The reasons for low fertility of T. australis and poor germination of seeds are discussed.


1965 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 795-801 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lothar Diers

The formation and maturation of the egg of the liverwort, Sphaerocarpus donnellii, was investigated by light, phase contrast and particularly by electron microscopy. The division of the central cell into the egg and the ventral canal cell, and the maturation of the egg, is completed within four days. All stages of this formation and maturation were examined under the electron microscope after fixation in KMnO4 or OsO4. — In the maturing egg there always occur the endoplasmic reticulum, well recognisable plastids with a poorly developed lamellar system, numerous mitochondria and dictyosomes, a rising number of lipid droplets, unknown small bodies limited by a unit membrane, and numerous ribosomes. During maturation the nucleus considerably enlarges and forms evaginations into the cytoplasm. Starch is increasingly deposited in the plastids. A degeneration of plastids has not been found.


1984 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 484-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
John N. Owens

Seed cones of Tsuga mertensiana (Bong) Carr. occur terminally on distal lateral branches and form from the differentiation of a terminal, previously vegetative apex, into a seed-cone apex. Pollen cones commonly occur on lateral branches and form from the differentiation of an undetermined axillary apex about 6 weeks after axillary bud initiation. Pollen cones also occasionally occur terminally. All cone buds began differentiation in late July after bud-scale initiation was complete and at about the end of lateral shoot elongation. Seed-cone buds initiated bracts and ovuliferous scales, but not ovules, before they became dormant at the end of October. Pollen-cone buds initiated all microsporophylls by early September. Microsporangia containing microspore mother cells differentiated before pollen-cone buds became dormant in mid-October. The time of cone-bud differentiation is related to vegetative bud and shoot development. The time and method of cone-bud differentiation is discussed in relation to T. heterophylla and other conifers having similar bud development.


1978 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Savitsky

Three diploid nematode-resistant plants derived from hybrids between Beta vulgaris L. and B. procumbens Chr. Sm. were crossed with diploid nematode-susceptible plants. The rates of resistance transmission from the F1 hybrids to the F2 varied from 7 to 27%. The transmission rate of F2 plants derived from F1 plants with transmission rates over 20% averaged 20.9%. The rate for F2 plants derived from F1 plants with transmission rates of 10% or lower averaged 11.3%. In diploid plants nematode resistance was transmitted through the pollen at lower frequencies than through egg cells. Transmission through female gametes varied from 11.0 to 31.4% and through male gametes of the same plants from 0 to 19.7%. In some pollen mother cells (PMCs) of diploid nematode-resistant plants meiosis was normal and gametes derived from these cells transmitted resistance to the next generation. Abnormalities were observed in other PMCs, including the detachment of the B. procumbens segment from the translocated chromosome, the formation of bridges, and the lagging of broken translocated chromosomes. The inadequate transmission of resistance was caused by a loss of the B. procumbens segment in some B. vulgaris bivalents.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document