Some Malpighiaceae produce minute cleistogamous flowers in addition to showy chasmogamous flowers. Standard techniques fail to reveal how the cleistogamous flowers achieve self-fertilization. Fluorescence in longitudinal sections shows that the pollen germinates inside the indehiscent anther. The pollen tubes then grow down through the filament,. into the receptacle, up into the carpels, and in...

Variation in pollen sterility in the same individual in one season.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Variation in pollen sterility in the sa Ovule sterility.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GENERAL DISCUSSION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CONCLUSION. . ...

In most plants, the female germline starts with the differentiation of one megaspore mother cell (MMC) in each ovule that produces four megaspores through meiosis, one of which survives to become the functional megaspore (FM). The FM further develops into an embryo sac. Little is known regarding the control of MMC formation to one per ovule and the selective survival of the FM. The ICK/KRPs (in...

BACKGROUND A high ratio of blank fruit in hazelnut (Corylus heterophylla Fisch) is a very common phenomenon that causes serious yield losses in northeast China. The development of blank fruit in the Corylus genus is known to be associated with embryo abortion. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms responsible for embryo abortion during the nut development stage. Genomic inform...

The plant life cycle is characterized by the alternation of generations between a diploid sporophyte and a haploid gametophyte. The sporophyte functions to produce spores, which then develop into gametophytes. The differentiated gametophytes in turn produce either the male gametes (sperm) or female gametes (egg cells). In contrast to lower plant species, in which the gametophyte is the dominant...

Seed plants underwent first major evolutionary radiation in the Late Devonian (Famennian), as evidenced by the numerous ovules described to date. However, the early pollen organs are underrepresented, so that their structure and evolution remain poorly known. Here we report a new taxon of pollen organ Placotheca minuta from the Late Devonian. The synangium consists of many basally and more or l...

The visual marker GUS has been utilized in this study to understand the Arabidopsis thaliana vacuum infiltration transformation process by Agrobacterium tumefaciens. High transformation frequencies of up to 394 transgenic seeds per infiltrated plant were achieved. The results showed that the majority of the transgenic seeds from single infiltrated plants were from independent transformation eve...