Intersectional crosses between species of sections Aigeiros (Populus deltoides, P. X euramericana or P. nigra) and Leuce (P. alba or P. tremuloides) are known to be reciprocally incompatible. The site of pollen tube arrest is on the stigma surface in pollinations between pistils of section Leuce and pollen of section Aigeiros; tubes failed to penetrate the stigma surface. In reciprocal matings,...

Compounds that promoted the growth of pollen tubes were isolated from the style of Rhedodendeon muerenatum and were identified as azalein, (+)-catechin, and (-)epicatechin. Among these compounds, 50-100ppm of (+)-catechin or (-)-epicatechin increased the growth of pollen tubes in thmetlia japoniea, R. mueronatum, Slyrax japoniea, and Pinus densij7bra by 16-20%. These compounds had no significan...

Pollen tubes elongate directionally in the extracellular matrix of pistil tissues to transport the male gametes from the apically located stigma to the basally located ovary for fertilization. The molecular mechanisms underlying directional pollen tube growth in the pistil are poorly understood. We have purified a glycoprotein, TTS, from tobacco stylar transmitting tissue, which supports pollen...

Plantacyanins belong to the phytocyanin family of blue copper proteins. In the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) genome, only one gene encodes plantacyanin. The T-DNA-tagged mutant is a knockdown mutant that shows no visible phenotype. We used both promoter-beta-glucuronidase transgenic plants and immunolocalization to show that Arabidopsis plantacyanin is expressed most highly in the inflores...

Vacuolar sorting receptors (VSRs) are type-I integral membrane proteins that mediate biosynthetic protein traffic in the secretory pathway to the vacuole, whereas secretory carrier membrane proteins (SCAMPs) are type-IV membrane proteins localizing to the plasma membrane and early endosome (EE) or trans-Golgi network (TGN) in the plant endocytic pathway. As pollen tube growth is an extremely po...

Pollen tubes elongate within the pistil to transport sperm cells to the embryo sac for fertilization. Growth occurs exclusively at the tube apex, rendering pollen tube elongation a most dramatic polar cell growth process. A hallmark pollen tube feature is its cytoskeleton, which comprises elaborately organized and dynamic actin microfilaments and microtubules. Pollen tube growth is dependent on...

Phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate [PtdIns(4,5)P2] occurs in the apical plasma membrane of growing pollen tubes. Because enzymes responsible for PtdIns(4,5)P2 production at that location are uncharacterized, functions of PtdIns(4,5)P2 in pollen tube tip growth are unresolved. Two candidate genes encoding pollen-expressed Arabidopsis thaliana phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate 5-kinases (PI4P 5...

Phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate [PtdIns(4,5)P(2)] occurs in the apical plasma membrane of growing pollen tubes. Because enzymes responsible for PtdIns(4,5)P(2) production at that location are uncharacterized, functions of PtdIns(4,5)P(2) in pollen tube tip growth are unresolved. Two candidate genes encoding pollen-expressed Arabidopsis thaliana phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate 5-kinases (...

During compatible pollination of the angiosperms, pollen tubes grow in the pistil transmitting tract (TT) and are guided to the ovule for fertilization. Lily (Lilium longiflorum) stigma/style Cys-rich adhesin (SCA), a plant lipid transfer protein (LTP), is a small, secreted peptide involved in pollen tube adhesion-mediated guidance. Here, we used a reverse genetic approach to study biological r...