Methods Airborne grass pollen was collected in the EEU via a Rotorod impact sampler. The pollen grains on each sampling rod were counted using both traditional and headsup microscopy. The heads-up technique incorporated a microscope camera to create an on-screen image of the sampling rod. Firstly, unique images were created by manually advancing the stage, without duplicating previously capture...

Understanding relations between climate and pollen production is important for several societal and ecological challenges, importantly pollen forecasting for pollinosis treatment, forensic studies, global change biology, and high-resolution palaeoecological studies of past vegetation and climate fluctuations. For these purposes, we investigate the role of climate variables on annual-scale varia...

OBJECTIVE Pollen grains of the Euphorbiaceae family are well known causative agents of respiratory allergies in India, European countries and USA. Mallotus phillipensis belongs to the same family and may have some common allergenic properties. It has thus been evaluated for the first time in Indian population for its pollinosis causing properties. METHODS Pollen antigen of Mallotus phillipens...

saffron (zaaferan), botanical name crocus sativus, is the most expensive spice in the world. it is derived from the dried stigma and pistil of the purple saffron crocus flowers. iran is the largest saffron producer accounting for more than 80% of the world's production. saffron contains an aeroallergen that causes reactive respiratory allergic reactions in atopic subjects. igg antibody to aller...

Biochemical interactions between the pollen and the pistil allow plants fine control over fertilization. S-RNase-based pollen rejection is among the most widespread and best understood of these interactions. At least three plant families have S-RNase-based self-incompatibility (SI) systems, and S-RNases have also been implicated in interspecific pollen rejection. Although S-RNases determine the...

Mature pollen represents an extremely resistant quiescent structure surrounded by a tough cell wall. After its hydration on stigma papillary cells, pollen tube growth starts rapidly. Massive metabolic changes are likely to be accompanied by changes in protein phosphorylation. Protein phosphorylation belongs among the most rapid post-translational modifications. To date, only Arabidopsis thalian...

A total of 34 floral visitors of Lavandula latifolia (Labiatae) at a southern Spanish locality were examined from the perspective of their "quality" as pollinators. I considered frequency of pollen transfer, number of pollen grains deposited on the stigma, selection of floral sexual stage (flowers are markedly protandrous), and patterns of flight distance between flowers. Hymenoptera deposited ...

The ornate surfaces of male and female reproductive cells in flowering plants have long attracted attention for their variety and evolutionary significance. These structures, and the molecules involved in sexual interactions, remain among the most rapidly evolving and diverse characteristics known. As varied as they may be, each element takes part in performing the same functions, protecting po...

In this article, we propose an automatic method for the segmentation of pollen grains from microscope images, followed by the automatic segmentation of their exine. The objective of exine segmentation is to separate the pollen grain in two regions of interest: exine and inner part. A coarse-to-fine approach ensures a smooth and accurate segmentation of both structures. As a rough stage, grain s...