Exine, the outermost architecture of pollen walls, protects male gametes from the environment by virtue of its chemical and physical stability. Although much effort has been devoted to revealing the mechanism of exine construction, still little is known about it. To identify the genes involved in exine formation, ...

Pollen grains of land plants have evolved remarkably strong outer walls referred to as exine that protect pollen and interact with female stigma cells. Exine is composed of sporopollenin, and while the composition and synthesis of this biopolymer are not well understood, both fatty acids and phenolics are likely ...

Pollen grains of land plants have evolved remarkably strong outer walls referred to as exine that protect pollen and interact with female stigma cells. Exine is composed of sporopollenin, and while the composition and synthesis of this biopolymer are not well understood, both fatty acids and phenolics are likely ...

The lipidic structures, anther cuticle (outer anther surface) and pollen exine (outer pollen wall), play a key protective role for the male gametophyte and pollen grain development. We recently identified ancient cytochrome P450 family member CYP704B2 in rice and proposed a common fatty acid ?-hydroxylation pathway ...

The highly resistant biopolymer, sporopollenin, gives the outer wall (exine) of spores and pollen grains their unparalleled strength, shielding these structures from terrestrial stresses. Despite a limited understanding of the composition of sporopollenin, it appears that the synthesis of sporopollenin occurs in the tapetum and requires the transport of ...

The highly resistant biopolymer, sporopollenin, gives the outer wall (exine) of spores and pollen grains their unparalleled strength, shielding these structures from terrestrial stresses. Despite a limited understanding of the composition of sporopollenin, it appears that the synthesis of sporopollenin occurs in the tapetum and requires the transport of ...

The pollen morphology of 11 genera and 11 species of the Hydrocharitaceae and one species of the Najadaceae was studied using scanning and transmission electron microscopies, and the exine structures and sculptures are discussed in relation to pollination mechanisms and the molecular phylogeny. The pollen grains of the Hydrocharitaceae ...

In the early microspore wall of the grass Poa annua L., sporopollenin is arranged in bundles of anastomosing strands. Each bundle contains at least two strands, each about 50 A in diameter, which anastomose or intertwine and look like a meshwork with pores of the mesh up to 50 A in diameter. After the early microspore stage the exine becomes homogeneous; it is similar in this ...

Male sterility in a near-isogenic line S45AB after 25 generations of subcrossing is controlled by two pairs of duplicate genes. The genotype of S45A is Bnms1Bnms1Bnms2Bnms2, and that of S45B is BnMs1Bnms1Bnms2Bnms2, respectively. Histological observations revealed that abnormal anther development appeared in the tapetum and pollen ...

Zea mays (maize) pollen exines have been purified with the use of differential centrifugation and sucrose gradients, followed by mild detergent and high salt treatment. The final exine fraction is highly purified from other organelles and subcellular structures as assayed by transmission electron microscopy. Using mature maize ...

Arabidopsis thaliana phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (AtVPS34) functions in the development and germination of pollen by catalyzing the biosynthesis of phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate (PI3P). In yeast, Vps15p is required for the membrane targeting and activity of Vps34. The expression of Arabidopsis thaliana VPS15 (AtVPS15), an ortholog of yeast Vps15, is mainly detected in ...

We have investigated the UV-visible light transmission of three types of micrometre-sized sporopollenin exine shells, two derived from Lycopodium clavatum (club moss) spores and one from Ambrosia trifida (giant ragweed) pollen. We have used spectrophotometer measurements of partial monolayers of exines and microscope absorbance imaging ...

... 1989). Notable exceptions are some Saxifragaceae, namely some Saxifraga s.l., especially section Micranthes, and Chrysosplenium (Ferguson & ... 1977). Tricolpate pollen with reticulate exines occurs in Sa...

The Arabidopsis thaliana MALE STERILITY 2 (MS2) gene product is involved in male gametogenesis. The first abnormalities in pollen development of ms2 mutants are seen at the stage in microsporogenesis when microspores are released from tetrads. Expression of the MS2 gene is observed in tapetum of wild-type flowers at, and shortly after, the release of ...

In plants, pollen is the male gametophyte that is generated from microspores, which are haploid cells produced after meiosis of diploid pollen mother cells in floral anthers. In normal maturation, microspores interact with the tapetum, which consists of one layer of metabolically active cells enclosing the locule in anthers. The tapetum plays several ...

The Arabidopsis AtMYB103 gene codes for an R2R3 MYB domain protein whose expression is restricted to the tapetum of developing anthers and to trichomes. Down-regulation of expression using anti-sense leads to abnormal tapetum and pollen development, although seed setting still occurs (Higginson, T., Li, S.F. and Parish, R.W. (2003) AtMYB103 regulates ...

... enlarge figure Figure 2 Monosis wightiana DC. A, Pollen grain, polar view, showing numerous intercolpar lacunae; B, Pollen grain, colpar view, showing extra deposits of exine in ... ...

... 3-lobed, circular in polar view, subprolate, germination organ type II, lumina obscure and not sinuate, lumina diameter ... �m long; if not, exine sculpture reticulate, germination organ type II, pollen g...

Arabinogalactan proteins are widely distributed in plant tissues and cells, and may function in the growth and development of higher plants. To our knowledge, there is currently no direct evidence concerning the involvement of fasciclin-like arabinogalactan proteins (FLA) in sexual reproduction in Arabidopsis. In this study, Arabidopsis FLA3 was found to be specifically expressed in ...

Exine, the outer plant pollen wall, has elaborate species-specific patterns, provides a protective barrier for male gametophytes and serves as a mediator of strong and species-specific pollen-stigma adhesion. Exine is made of sporopollenin, a material remarkable for its strength, elasticity, and chemical ...

Benefits of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) can be enhanced by raising their bioavailability through microencapsulation. Pollen can be emptied to form hollow shells, known as exines, and then used to encapsulate material, such as oils in a dry powder form. Six healthy volunteers ingested 4.6 g of fish oil containing 20% EPA in the form of ethyl ester first ...

In flowering plants, the exine components are derived from tapetum. Despite its importance to sexual plant reproduction, little is known about the translocation of exine materials from tapetum to developing microspores. Here we report functional characterization of the arabidopsis WBC27 gene. WBC27 encodes an adenosine tri-phosphate binding cassette (ABC) ...

Pollen acts as a biological protector of male sperm and is covered by an outer cell wall polymer called the exine, which consists of durable sporopollenin. Despite the astonishingly divergent structure of the exine across taxa, the developmental processes of its formation surprisingly do not vary, which suggests the preservation of a ...

Describes: basic features of pollen grains (shapes, apertures, layering of wall, exine sculpturing); strategies for pollination (anemophily--wind transported, zoophily--animal transported); and the structures specialized for each process. Gives instructions for using scanning electron microscope photographs and for collecting, identifying, and germinating ...

The Callitrichaceae are an aquatic family of dicots that include the single, geographically cosmopolitan genus Callitriche. Callitriche contains 40-50 terrestrial, amphibious, and obligately submersed species, and it is the only known genus in the plant kingdom with co-occurring aerial and hydrophilous pollination syndromes. Pollen morphology and ultrastructure were described ...

Time series during hydration of an oriental spruce (Picea orientalis) pollen grain. Rhodamine B stains the exine (red) while fluorescein diacetate crosses plasmalemmae and indicates esterase activity in the living cells (green). Swelling of the tube cell reduces the volume of the saccate air space and results in a loss of pollen ...

Formation of the unique and highly diverse outer cell wall, or exine, of pollen is essential for normal pollen function and survival. However, little is known about the many contributing proteins and processes involved in the formation of this wall. The tomato gene LeGRP92 encodes for a glycine-rich protein produced specifically in the ...

With the aim to study the effects of an ion beam on plant cells, upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) cultivar �Sumian 22� pollen grains were irradiated in vacuum (7.8 � 10?3 Pa) by low-energy nitrogen ions with an energy of 20 keV at various fluences ranging from 0.26 � 1016 to 0.78 � 1016 N+/cm2. The irradiation effects on pollen grains were ...

The exine of the pollen wall shows an intricate pattern, primarily comprising sporopollenin, a polymer of fatty acids and phenolic compounds. A series of enzymes synthesize sporopollenin precursors in tapetal cells, and the precursors are transported from the tapetum to the pollen surface. However, the mechanisms underlying the ...

The outer pollen wall, or exine, is more structurally complex than any other plant cell wall, comprising several distinct layers, each with its own organizational pattern. Since elucidation of the basic events of pollen wall ontogeny using electron microscopy in the 1970s, knowledge of their developmental genetics has increased ...

To find more morphological characteristics useful for discussion on aralian or non-aralian Panax affinity, pollen morphological diversity was comparatively analysed in P. ginseng, Aralia elata and Oplopanax elatus collected during their pollination periods. In the anthers of both the buds and open flowers, the pollen average diameter varied between some ...

Background and Aims Hydration, rupture and exine opening due to the sudden and large expansion of intine are typical of taxoid-type pollen grains. A hemispheric outgrowth external to the exine was observed on Cupressus and Juniperus pollen grains before the intine swelling and exine release. ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The olive tree is an oil-storing species, with pollen being the second most active site in storage lipid biosynthesis. Caleosins are proteins involved in storage lipid mobilization during seed germination. Despite the existence of different lipidic structures in the anther, there are no data regarding the presence of caleosins in this organ to date. The ...

BackgroundThe olive tree is an oil-storing species, with pollen being the second most active site in storage lipid biosynthesis. Caleosins are proteins involved in storage lipid mobilization during seed germination. Despite the existence of different lipidic structures in the anther, there are no data regarding the presence of caleosins in this organ to date. The purpose of ...

An evaluation of possible approaches to fossil oak pollen identification utilized scanning electron microscopy to examine exine-surface features of 171 collections, representing 16 Quercus subgenus Lepidobalanus species and varieties of eastern North America. Twenty qualitative pollen morphological characters were defined and tabulated ...

Sporopollenin is the major component of the outer pollen wall (exine). Fatty acid derivatives and phenolics are thought to be its monomeric building blocks, but the precise structure, biosynthetic route, and genetics of sporopollenin are poorly understood. Based on a phenotypic mutant screen in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), we identified a cytochrome ...

Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that urbanization and high levels of vehicle emissions correlated with the increasing trend of pollen-induced respiratory allergies. Numerous works have investigated the role of pollutants in the pathogenesis of respiratory diseases but impacts of anthropogenic pollution on pollen allergenic properties are still ...

Background and AimsThe polygalacturonase (PG) gene family has been found to be enriched in pollen of several species; however, little is currently known about the function of the PG gene in pollen development. To investigate the exact role that the PG gene has played in pollen development and about this family in general, one putative ...

We investigated the mechanism and efficiency of digestion of two types of pollen, maize, Zea mays, and sunflower, Helianthus annuus, by the spotted maize beetle, Astylus atromaculatus (Melyridae). We found similar and high extraction efficiencies, but different mechanisms of digestion. Osmotic shock was apparently involved in digestion of the large and thin-walled maize ...

Pollen is a leading contributor to asthma and allergies, yet pollen adhesion to common indoor surfaces is not well understood. We report the adhesive behavior of short ragweed (A. artemisiifolia) pollen grains with Nylon 6 (N6) and Nylon 6,6 (N66), chosen due to their use in synthetic carpet, and three control surfaces: polyamide 12 ...

The anther cuticle and microspore exine act as protective barriers for the male gametophyte and pollen grain, but relatively little is known about the mechanisms underlying the biosynthesis of the monomers of which they are composed. We report here the isolation and characterization of a rice (Oryza sativa) male sterile mutant, cyp704B2, which exhibits a ...

The localization of antigenic proteins on ultrathin sections of pollen grains represents an interesting approach to understanding the release mechanisms of these antigens when the pollen grains come in contact with various physiological fluids. Using different rabbit antibodies we have demonstrated the locations of these antigens in the various structures ...

Pollen morphology of neotropical species of Podostemum is described for the first time with light (LM) and scanning electronic microscopes (SEM), using pollen dehydration by critical point. Herbarium specimens under study are P. comatum, P. distichum, P. muelleri and P. rutifolium. Pollen grains are dispersed in dyads. Observed with ...

Anther and pollen development were studied in Olyra humilis Nees, Sucrea monophylla Soderstr, (Bambusoideae), Axonopus aureus P. Beauv., Paspalum polyphyllum Nees ex Trin. (Panicoideae), Eragrostis solida Nees, and Chloris elata Desv. (Chloridoideae). The objective of this study was to characterise, embryologically, these species of subfamilies which are considered basal, ...