Plant type III polyketide synthases (PKSs) catalyze the condensation of malonyl-CoA units with various CoA ester starter molecules to generate a diverse array of natural products. The fatty acyl-CoA esters synthesized by Arabidopsis thaliana ACYL-COA SYNTHETASE5 (ACOS5) are key intermediates in the biosynthesis of sporopollenin, the major constituent of exine in the outer pollen wall. By coexpr...

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. However, the actual existence of this permanent or temporary structure and its precise role in pollen hy...

A comparative ultrastructural study of Araceae pollen walls was conducted for the first time. The results are based mainly on investigations by transmission electron microscopy of 101 species in 70 genera (out of a total of 105 genera), while pollen of 83 genera with 219 species were studied by scanning electron microscopy, generally without acetolysis. Special attention was given to Lemnaceae ...

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 swollen sporophytic tapetal layer, abort...

Downregulation of the transcription factor AtMYB103 using transgenic technology results in early tapetal degeneration and pollen aberration during anther development in Arabidopsis thaliana. This paper describes the functional analysis of the AtMYB103 gene in three knock-out mutants. Two male sterile mutants, ms188-1 and ms188-2, were generated by ethyl-methane sulfonate (EMS) mutagenesis. A ma...

Pollen grains protect the sperm cells inside them with the help of the unique cell wall, the exine, which exhibits enormous morphological variation across plant taxa, assembling into intricate and diverse species-specific patterns. How this complex extracellular structure is faithfully deposited at precise sites and acquires precise shape within a species is not understood. Here, we describe th...

During the early stages of microsporocyte ontogeny in Helleborus foetidus L. there is protoplasmic continuity between the cells of the tapetum and between the individual sporogenous cells, but not between the two tissues. The plasma canals and plasmodesmata are progressively sealed off by the deposition of thick callose walls, so that by the first meiotic division, each pollen mother cell is is...

Cytochemical staining methods and immunofluorescence techniques have been used to follow the release of proteins, including the allergen Antigen E, from whole pollen of ragweeds (Ambrosia spp.) and Cosmos bipinnatus (Compositae). These proteins have been detected in 2 sites in the wall: in the inner cellulosic intine layer especially at the germinal apertures, and in the cavea and the cavities ...

Pollen grains protect the sperm cells inside them with the help of the unique cell wall, the exine, which exhibits enormous morphological variation across plant taxa, assembling into intricate and diverse species-specific patterns. How this complex extracellular structure is faithfully deposited at precise sites and acquires precise shape within a species is not understood. Here, we describe th...