scholarly journals Unusual behavior of growing pollen tubes in the ovary of plum culture (Prunus domestica L.)

2010 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milena Djordjevic ◽  
R. Cerovic ◽  
D. Nikolic ◽  
Sanja Radicevic

Unusual behavior of growing pollen tubes in different combinations of pollination was observed in the ovary of the plum (Prunus domestica L.) cv 'Cacanska Lepotica'. It primarily refers to several issues, i.e. the curling up of pollen tubes within the micropyle, the growth of two pollen tubes into the nucellus of an ovule, the occurrence of a bundle above the nucellar cap and fluorescence of the part of the embryo sac containing the egg apparatus. Upon the growth of pollen tubes into the nucellus of the ovule, subsequently penetrating pollen tubes form a bundle either above the micropyle entrance or above the nucellus. Branching and bending of pollen tubes by 180o upon their growth into the micropyle was also observed.


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.



2004 ◽  
Vol 82 (11) ◽  
pp. 1566-1575 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia M Ross ◽  
Michael J Sumner

Megasporogenesis, embryo sac development, and pollen tubes in Arceuthobium americanum Nutt. ex Engelm. were investigated with light, fluorescence, and electron microscopy. The orthotropous ovular structure of A. americanum lacked integuments and possessed a nucellus that was largely continuous with and indistinguishable from the placenta; we coined this structure the placental–nucellar complex (PNC). Two megasporocytes became evident in the tenuinucellate PNC by mid-April, and had undergone bisporic megasporogenesis by mid-May. The upper cell from each dyad (distal to the base of the PNC) became a functional megaspore, although only one would develop into a seven-celled embryo sac. Like typical angiosperm embryo sacs, that of A. americanum possessed an egg cell having the ultrastructure reflective of a quiescent cell, and lacked cellulosic and (or) hemicellulosic wall material between the egg apparatus and central cell. However, the egg apparatus arose at the lower embryo sac pole, not at the upper as expected for an orthotropous ovule. A hypothetical model for the development of Arceuthobium ovules is the ancestral fusion and subsequent reduction of two anatropous ovules to form two embryo sacs within the PNC, of which only one completes development. The synergids have no role in pollen tube guidance, as tubes could be seen below each functional megaspore prior to megagametogenesis.Key words: Arceuthobium, embryo sac, megasporogenesis, mistletoe, pollen tubes, ultrastructure.



1986 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Kaul ◽  
J. L. Rouse ◽  
E. G. Williams

Early events in the embryo sac of Rhododendron kawakamii and R. retusum have been studied after compatible self-pollinations and eight interspecific crosses, using sectioned ovaries, pistil squashes, and seed-set data. Ovules of Rhododendron kawakamii and R. retusum are anatropous, unitegmic, and tenuinucellate, with a typical eight-nucleate, seven-celled embryo sac. Fertilization normally occurs 4–5 days after pollination. The zygote lays down a callose wall but remains undivided during the first 13–15 days after pollination. The primary endosperm nucleus divides soon after fertilization, and development is cellular ab initio. Crosses of R. kawakamii (♂) with R. santapaui and R. retusum and crosses of R. retusum (♂) with R. kawakamii, R. santapaui, R. ovatum, and R. tashiroi showed apparently normal fertilization in a majority of ovules entered by pollen tubes. In crosses of R. kawakamii (♂) with R. quadrasianum and Kalmia latifolia entry of pollen tubes into ovules was delayed and frequently abnormal. Apart from compatible self-pollinations of R. kawakamii an R. retusum, only the cross of R. kawakamii (♂) with R. santapaui produced healthy seedlings. Of the remaining seven interspecific crosses only three showed significant embryo development in control pistils left to mature in situ. Similarities and differences in the breeding behaviour of R. kawakamii and R. retusum are discussed with reference to their taxonomic grouping within subsection Pseudovireya.



1986 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 413 ◽  
Author(s):  
EG Williams ◽  
V Kaul ◽  
JL Rouse ◽  
BF Palser

Frequent overgrowths of pollen tubes within the embryo sac are characteristic of a number of interspecific crosses in the genus Rhododendron (Ericaceae). The combined techniques of sectioning, squashing and whole-ovule clearing have confirmed that in ovules showing this phenomenon the pollen tube fails to terminate growth and release sperms on entry into a synergid; instead it continues to grow beyond the synergid and egg cell, often filling the main body of the embryo sac with a coiled and distorted mass. Such ovules fail to develop further. The occurrence and possible causes of this error syndrome are discussed.



1973 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 403-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. DE NETTANCOURT ◽  
M. DEVREUX ◽  
A. BOZZINI ◽  
M. CRESTI ◽  
E. PACINI ◽  
...  

The experimental results obtained show that the tip of the incompatible pollen tube bursts open after the outer-wall has considerably expanded in the intercellular spaces of the conducting tissue and the inner-wall has disappeared and numerous particles have accumulated in the tube cytoplasm. These particles, which measure approximately 0.2 µm in diameter and give a weak reaction to the test of Thiéry, differ in many respects from the vesicles normally present in compatible pollen tubes growing through the style; they appear to resemble, in some cases, the spheres which are discharged by the compatible pollen tubes after they have reached the embryo-sac. It is considered that these observations support the current belief that the tube wall is the site of action for the incompatibility proteins and suggest that self-incompatibility is not a passive process resulting from lack of growth stimulation but an active event which leads to the destruction of the incompatible pollen tubes. The degradation mechanism involved appears similar to the one which enables the compatible pollen tube to release its contents in the degenerated synergid and presents some analogies with the lytic process taking place in virus-infected cells. The general hypothesis is presented that the particles observed in the cytoplasm of self-incompatible pollen tubes consist of a mixture of incompatibility proteins and of basic constituents of the tube wall.



1995 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 595-598
Author(s):  
Xiuying Tian ◽  
L. Van Caeseele ◽  
M. J. Sumner

When pollination occurred within 24 h after anthesis, 69.2% of the pods of Brassica rapa cultivar Candle contained at least 50% fertilized ovules. If pollination occurred later than 4 d after anthesis, an occasional ovule near the base of the pistil was fertilized; however, no significant seed set was observed. Pollen tubes were observed entering the locules of the ovary from pollinations carried out as late as 5 d after anthesis. At 3 d after anthesis, in unpollinated flowers, a general deterioration of the embryo-sac contents began and gradually increased to include integumentary cells by 6 d after anthesis. Some ovules swelled as though they were fertilized, but no embryos were present. The results suggest that yield reductions in this species may occur because of the reduction of fertilization potential through rapid degeneration of embryo sacs following anthesis. Key words:Brassica rapa, embryo sac, yield



Planta ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 211 (1) ◽  
pp. 158-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Zhen Han ◽  
Bing-Quan Huang ◽  
Sze-Yong Zee ◽  
Ming Yuan


1957 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh P. Bell

Seed development was followed from fertilization to maturity. Pollen tubes required about 4 days to grow from stigma to ovule. In some plants, particularly bagged ones, nucellar cells remained alive and contents of the embryo sac degenerated. Many ovules did not develop. Seeds were counted and sorted in a random representative collection of 1075 berries. The average number of seeds per berry was 64.2. Of these 49.9 (or 77.7%) were imperfect. More complete pollination increased the percentage of normally developing ovules. Development of perfect seeds followed a familiar pattern. Unfamiliar features were noted as follows: 1. Degeneration of cells at both micropylar and chalazal ends resulted in a homogeneous plasma. This plasma formed strands across haustoria and almost completely surrounded the zygote. 2. Micropylar endosperm cells formed a dense plug. Developing embryos may have had difficulty in penetrating this plug. 3. Many embryos had died at some stage of development. 4. A conspicuous integumentary tapetum was present until the endosperm was about half its final size.Embryo development was the "soland" type. Mature seeds were "axile linear". Imperfect seeds were chiefly of two types: (a) medium sized and solid with middle integumentary layers lignified, or (b) small and collapsed with all tissues inside seed coat disintegrated. No imperfect seed had an embryo.



1990 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 265 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Rudall

Ovule and megagametophyte development is described for the first time in Ecdeiocoleaceae, a small Western Australian family that has affinities with Restionaceae. The mature embryo sac has an egg apparatus, but other nuclei usually degenerate. The nucellus proliferates at the chalazal end of the embryo sac to forma prominent cup-shaped region that has no obvious homologue among related families in Poales, or tother monocotyledons. The data confirm evidence from anatomy and pollen morphology that Ecdeiocolea does not belong in Restionaceae, but do not indicate obvious relationships with other families.



2006 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Vági ◽  
K. Imre ◽  
Z. Kristóf

In contrast to most angiosperms, Torenia contains a naked embryo sac and therefore has been considered since many years as an exciting model plant to study the double fertilization process of flowering seed plants. It is thus not surprising that the isolation of protoplasts from the female gametophyte has been reported already 20 years ago by Mol, the isolation of megaspores and megagametophytes has been published by the authors of this manuscript in 1996 and in 1999. The isolation of the male gametophyte and of sperm cells was published by the authors in 2004. The isolation of viable Torenia sperm cells is a crucial part of the elaboration of an in vitro fertilization system. Torenia sperm cells were isolated from in vivo — in vitro cultured pollen tubes. In this system pollen tubes first grow inside a cut style then follow their elongation in a solid isolation medium. The medium contained agarose in order to detain pollen tube contents. Released sperm cells and enzymatically isolated egg cells were collected and handled using glass micropipettes and transmitted to an electrofusion apparatus or polyethylene glycol containing media for fusion probes.



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