1. Action potentials (APs) have been recorded for the first time from the oocytes of an arthropod, the haematophagous insect Rhodnius prolixus. In saline containing Zmmoll" calcium, APs could be evoked by depolarizing the oocyte membrane from its resting potential of — 50 mV to a threshold between —35 and — 40 mV. The mean duration and overshoot of the APs were 2-6 s and +16mV, respectively. 2....

In flowering plants, maternal seed integument encloses the embryo and the endosperm, which are both derived from double fertilization. Although the development of these three components must be coordinated, we have limited knowledge of mechanisms involved in such coordination. The endosperm may play a central role in these mechanisms as epigenetic modifications of endosperm development, via imb...

In angiosperms, double fertilization of the egg and central cell of the megagametophyte leads to the development of the embryo and endosperm, respectively. Control of cell cycle progression in the megagametophyte is essential for successful fertilization and development. Central cell-targeted expression of the D-type cyclin CYCD7;1 (end CYCD7;1) using the imprinted FWA promoter overcomes cycle ...

Understanding the genotype–environment interactions requires a distinction between two effects of the environment on plants of a given genotype: the achievement of growth throughout their whole life and the prior determination of their growth potentials. Spring barley seeds from the same seed lot were sown at the end of the winter at three altitudes: 320 m a.s.l. (end of February), 880 m (begin...

The effects of in vitro-growth (IVG) culture duration (12 and 14 days) on the fertilizability and the developmental ability of IVG oocytes matured with pre-maturational culture, and on the proliferation of cells surrounding oocytes during IVG culture were examined. The fertilization and cleavage rates of 12- and 14-day IVG oocytes were similar; however, 14-day IVG oocytes showed lower blastocys...

Effects of salinity on fertilization, embryonic stage, and early larval development and growth performances of short-spined white sea urchin, Salmacis sphaeroides were conducted under a controlled laboratory condition. The experiment was carried out with seven salinity treatments (15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45 PSU), each of which was triplicated. Significantly highest fertilization success was ...

this experiment was carried out in 2003-2004 to determine fruit set patterns in four pistachio cultivars (akbari, ahmad aghaie, kalle ghouchi and ohadi) to find out the correlation between final fruit set and embryonic sac development, and as well between primary fertility and final fruit set. in a field experiment, inflorescence schematic shape and position of flowers (on inflorescence on the ...

The aim of the present study was to clarify if flow-cytometric sex-sorting of bovine sperm affected in vitro blastocyst production in different bulls, either in terms of its ability to fertilize the oocyte or by interfering with post-fertilization embryo development. We performed in vitro fertilization (IVF) using both commercially available frozen-thawed X-sorted and non-sorted sperm of 4 Hols...

new advances in mass spectrometry-based proteomics technology are having amajor impact on our understanding of how human spermatozoa acquire their capacity for fertilization. a complete analysis of the proteins found in the human spermatozoa is essential for understanding the events leading up to, and including, fertilization and early embryo development. in this short review, we have collected...

introduction: determination of best culture medium for fertilization and development of nmri mice. material and methods: development of fertilized mature oocytes of nmri mice was studied for five days in several culture media (ksom, t6, m16, czb, g1tm ver3 and g2tm ver3) following hormone therapy with pmsg and hcg. results: the rate of fertilization after 24 hours was 97.4% in ksom, 83.5% in t6...