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The osmotic effect of Polyethylene glycol (PEG) has been shown to be sufficient to induce the germination of Pistacia vera L. pollen in liquid medium. The prehydration of the pollen in a saturated atmosphere for approximately 10 h was necessary to obtain maximum in vitro germination. Imbibition of the pollen in water resulted in the rapid leakage of solutes into the medium. These solutes consisted of approximately 50% carbohydrates, of which sucrose (0.65 μmol/mg), glucose (0.77 μmol/mg) and fructose (0.78 μmol/mg) were the major sugars; the remaining 50% comprised proteins with the following major molecular weights 63 kDa, 60 kDa, 59 kDa, 40 kDa, 36 kDa, 35.5 kDa, 31 kDa, other organic matter and minerals.

Parallels have been explored between the early stages of stigmatic penetration by pollen tubes and the infection of epidermal cells by fungal pathogens. In a striking resemblence to events following the infection of Hordeum sp. by Erysiphe graminis, X-ray microanalysis has revealed the accumulation of calcium at the stigmatic surface following pollinations in Brassica oleracea. X-ray mapping strongly indicates the calcium to be localised at the points at which either the pollen grain or its tube makes contact with the surface of the stigmatic papilla. No definitive measures were made of the concentration of calcium at these sites, but controls indicated the levels to be well in excess of those found in the cytosol. X-ray microanalysis at the pollen/stigma interface failed to detect the presence of silicon, an element frequently accumulated by epidermal cells in response to pathogenic challenge. The phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway is activated by many plant hosts following infection by fungal pathogens, and the accumulation of autofluorescent material in the stigma 24 h after contact with self pollen strongly indicates this pathway also to be activated after pollination. The timing of this response, however, suggests that phenolic products are unlikely to be involved in the rejection of self pollen. These data are discussed in the perspective of current views of defence systems present in angiosperm epidermal cells, and why these mechanisms fail to identify and reject incompatible pollen tubes.

The ability of embryos at different developmental stages to form plants in vitro has been studied in cultivated Cucumis sativus L. and in the wild species C. zeyheri 2 x Sond. and C. metuliferus Naud. On MS medium containing 3.5% sucrose, 0.1 mg 1−1 kinetin (Kn) and 0.01 mg 1−1 indoleacetic acid (IAA), proembryos (0.03–0.05 mm) and early globular embryos (0.05–0.08 mm) from the wild species developed into plants in low frequencies of 8% and 21%, respectively. These embryos should be surrounded by the embryo sac tissue. On the same medium late globular (0.08–0.1 mm) and early heart-stage embryos (0.1–0.3 mm) developed into plants in moderately high and high frequencies of 48% and 83%, respectively. The presence of the embryo sac at these stages was still beneficial, but no longer a prerequisite. Late heart-stage embryos (0.3–0.8 mm) also showed high frequencies of plant formation, 63%, if Kn was applied at a concentration of 1 mg 1−1. From the early cotyledon stage onwards, the frequency of plant formation gradually decreased, reaching a minimum at the late cotyledon stage. Subsequently it began to increase again up to the late maturation stage. The poor plant formation shown by the intermediate-aged embryos could be improved slightly by lowering the sucrose concentration to 0.5% and by increasing the Kn concentration to 10 mg 1−1. Relative to the wild species, embryos of C. sativus showed lower percentages of plant formation. The optimum sucrose concentration was 2% for the heart-stage C. sativus embryos. In all three species the ability to form plants strongly decreased with increasing embryo age, from early to late cotyledon. This is thought to be caused by the increasing tendency of the embryos at these stages to continue in vitro the normal embryo development.

Success of seed development following sexual crosses is primarily dependent on proper endosperm function and development. The failure to produce triploids, or “triploid block” in 4x×2x crosses served as the impetus for numerous studies of embryo and endosperm to attempt to explain cross failure. Early explanations were based upon a concept of a 2∶3∶2 ploidy balance between maternal tissue, endosperm, and embryo. Subsequent studies done with maize demonstrated that normal endosperm development in intraspecific maize crosses is dependent solely on having a 2∶1 maternal to paternal genome dosage in the endosperm. These results have been modified and extended to solanaceous species in the form of an endosperm dosage system in which empirically determined factors must bear the same 2∶1 relationship for crosses to succeed. Crossing behavior of these species suggest that the system is polygenically controlled and regulates both interspecific and intraspecific crosses. Endosperm dosage systems explain many aspects of species evolution, but the system appears to have originated as an ancient means of ensuring diploid fidelity.

The mt− agglutinins of the interfertile species Chlamydomonas moewusii and Chlamydomonas eugametos are very similar fibrous molecules. The mt− agglutinin of C. moewusii has the same Stokes radius (39 nm) and sedimentation coefficient (9.3 S) as its counterpart in C. eugametos; its length (336 nm) and its ultrastructure, including the position of four kinks are also the same as in C. eugametos. The sugar compositions of both agglutinins are very similar, and they react equally well with the monoclonal antibody Mab 66.3 raised against the mt− agglutinin of C. eugametos. Finally, they are equally thermoresistant, with half-lives at 100 °C of 50 min (C. moewusii) and 57 min (C. eugametos). The mt+ agglutinins of both species are different. Both are fibrous molecules with a terminal head, but the fibrous part of the molecule in C. moewusii is shorter (210 nm compared to 276 nm). The mt+ agglutinin of C. moewusii is also significantly more sensitive to heating with a half-life of 6 min at 40 °C compared to the 20 min shown by the mt+ agglutinin of C. eugametos. Their sugar compositions are, however, very similar, and they react equally well with Mab 66.3. The mt+ agglutinin of C. moewusii is sensitive to denaturing reagents and proteolytic attack, whereas the mt− agglutinin is highly resistant. It is proposed that the globular head of the mt+ agglutinin acts as its recognition domain and interacts with a carbohydrate ligand on the mt− agglutinin.

Heteromorphic self-incompatibility systems provide an excellent model for studying both intraspecific breeding barriers and the regulation of floral organ size and positioning, yet at the molecular level, they are almost completely uncharacterized. In this study, a subtracted cDNA library was generated from developing and mature floral tissues of the thrum morph of Primula vulgaris, subtracted with the same tissues from the pin morph. Differential screening and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analysis identified 11 classes of cDNA that were differentially expressed between developing floral morphs. A number of these classes have significant homology to members of gene families implicated in plant development, including rapid alkalinization factors, DExH box RNA helicases, SKS multi-copper oxidases, and AtCHX ion-transporter families, consistent with their potential involvement in the regulation of floral heteromorphy. None of the cDNAs identified appear to be linked to the Primula S-locus suggesting that they are not components of the S-locus itself, and are more likely downstream components of developmental pathways leading to floral heteromorphy.

Neither the genetic basis nor the inheritance of apomixis is fully understood in plants. The present study is focused on the inheritance of parthenogenesis, one of the basic elements of apomixis, in Pilosella (Asteraceae). A complex pattern of inheritance was recorded in the segregating F1 progeny recovered from reciprocal crosses between the facultatively apomictic hexaploid P. rubra and the sexual tetraploid P. officinarum. Although both female and male reduced gametes of P. rubra transmitted parthenogenesis at the same rate in the reciprocal crosses, the resulting segregating F1 progeny inherited parthenogenesis at different rates. The actual transmission rates of parthenogenesis were significantly correlated with the mode of origin of the respective F1 progeny class. The inheritance of parthenogenesis was significantly reduced in F1 n + n hybrid progeny from the cross where parthenogenesis was transmitted by female gametes. In F1 n + 0 polyhaploid progeny from the same cross, however, the transmission rate of parthenogenesis was high; all fertile polyhaploids were parthenogenetic. It appeared that reduced female gametes transmitting parthenogenesis preferentially developed parthenogenetically and only rarely were fertilized in P. rubra. The fact that the determinant for parthenogenesis acts gametophytically in Pilosella and the precocious embryogenesis in parthenogenesis-transmitting megagametophytes was suggested as the most probable explanations for this observation. Furthermore, we observed the different expression of complete apomixis in the non-segregating F1 2n + n hybrids as compared to their apomictic maternal parent P. rubra. We suggest that this difference is a result of unspecified interactions between the parental genomes.

 The T-DNA tagged mutant gene of Arabidopsis thaliana, mei1, produces after meiosis an abnormal tetrad, consisting of five to eight microspores of varying sizes and DNA contents. Plant DNA flanking the inserted T-DNA was isolated by inverse PCR. An approximately 16-kb DNA fragment spanning the T-DNA insertion site was isolated by screening a wild-type genomic library, using the plant flanking DNA as a probe. Using RT-PCR and RNA isolated from very young flower buds, a cDNA fragment was obtained. Nucleotide sequence comparison of the cDNA and the genomic sequence in this region indicated a gene which contained two introns. The 5′ and 3′ splice sites of neither intron comply with the :GU...AG: rule. In the mutant, the T-DNA had inserted into one of the introns. The deduced sequence of the MEI1 wild-type gene, which contains 89 amino acids, shows possible similarity with the human acrosin-trypsin inhibitor, HUSI-II, and is about the same size. Two wild-type DNA fragments, both extending over the T-DNA insertion site, were introduced into mutant plants by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and plants were selected for both hygromycin and kanamycin resistance. Several independent male-fertile transformants were obtained with one of the DNA fragments. The fragment showing complementation of the mutant phenotype indicated that the sequence with similarity to the acrosin-trypsin inhibitor is MEI1. Within the 16-kb genomic fragment two other genes were identified; one showed no overall similarity to any protein sequence in the database and the other had almost complete identity with an Arabidopsis-transcribed sequence tag with similarity to ACC oxidase. Double mutants between mei1 and qrt1 were made, permitting better characterization of the mei1 phenotype because the individual microspores continued to be held together after callose dissolution.