Some events of mitosis and cytokinesis in the generative cell of Ornithogalum virens L.

Planta ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 199 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malgorzata Banaś ◽  
Uday Krishna Tirlapur ◽  
Maria Charzyńska ◽  
Mauro Cresti
2014 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-102
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Stępka ◽  
Fabricio Ciampolini ◽  
Mauro Cresti ◽  
Maria Charzyńska

The germinating pollen grain (in vivo on the stigma or in vitro in germination medium) forms a pollen tube which transports the vegetative nucleus and generative cell/two sperm cells participating in the process of double fertilization. The growth of the tube and the transport of organelles and the cells occur due to two major motor systems existing in the pollen tubes of higher plants: the tubuline-dynein/kinesin and the actin-myosin system. In pollen tubes of <em>Ornithogalum virens</em> the actin filaments were labelled with TRITC-phalloidin (2 µg/ml) in the PIPES buffer and the 10% sucrose, without the fixative and DMSO. Omission of the fixative and permeabilizing agent (DMSO) allowed better preservation of the structure, and the "fluorescence" of actin was observed in living pollen tubes. Observations in CLSM (confocal laser scanning microscope) showed that actin is distributed in the vicinity of the cell membrane. This could support the view that actin filaments and the plasmalemma form the pollen tube cortex along which the cytoplasmic movement of organelles, and cell transport occurs.


The development of the male gametophyte of Taxus baccata has been studied over a period of 20 weeks, from germination of the microspore in February to spermatogenesis in July. A few days after germination the microspore nucleus divides and a transverse wall forms at the equator cutting off the small generative cell and a large tube cell. The latter immediately begins to expand to form the pollen tube. The first division thus establishes the polarity of the gametophyte and the generative cell is regarded as proximal. The transverse wall is ephemeral, and within six weeks it has disappeared. The nucleus of the generative cell divides while still at the proximal pole. The two daughter nuclei are unequal in size, but they remain associated and together move distally. The larger nucleus eventually becomes the nucleus of the spermatogenous cell, and the smaller the sterile nucleus. The spermatogenous cell acquires a distinctive cytoplasm and becomes surrounded by a wall which arises de novo . The nucleus of the spermatogenous cell enlarges, but always remains towards one side of the cell so that at mitosis the spindle is contained within one hemisphere. After division the wall of the spermatogenous cell is ruptured and the two sperms are released as naked nuclei of equal size. The cytoplasm of the spermatogenous cell degenerates as it enters the tube, but remains recognizable until fertilization.


Plant Science ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenji Ueda ◽  
Yoshihisa Miyamoto ◽  
Ichiro Tanaka

2007 ◽  
Vol 97 (8) ◽  
pp. 892-899 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khalid Amari ◽  
Lorenzo Burgos ◽  
Vicente Pallas ◽  
María Amelia Sanchez-Pina

The route of infection and the pattern of distribution of Prunus necrotic ringspot virus (PNRSV) in apricot pollen were studied. PNRSV was detected both within and on the surface of infected pollen grains. The virus invaded pollen during its early developmental stages, being detected in pollen mother cells. It was distributed uniformly within the cytoplasm of uni- and bicellular pollen grains and infected the generative cell. In mature pollen grains, characterized by their triangular shape, the virus was located mainly at the apertures, suggesting that PNRSV distribution follows the same pattern as the cellular components required for pollen tube germination and cell wall tube synthesis. PNRSV also was localized inside pollen tubes, especially in the growth zone. In vitro experiments demonstrated that infection with PNRSV decreases the germination percentage of pollen grains by more than half and delays the growth of pollen tubes by ≈24 h. However, although PNRSV infection affected apricot pollen grain performance during germination, the presence of the virus did not completely prevent fertilization, because the infected apricot pollen tubes, once germinated, were able to reach the apricot embryo sacs, which, in the climatic conditions of southeastern Spain, mature later than in other climates. Thus, infected pollen still could play an important role in the vertical transmission of PNRSV in apricot.


1989 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 569-574
Author(s):  
X.J. Tang ◽  
P.K. Hepler ◽  
S.P. Scordilis

A myosin heavy chain polypeptide has been identified and localized in Nicotiana pollen tubes using monoclonal anti-myosin antibodies. The epitopes of these antibodies were found to reside on the myosin heavy chain head and rod portion and were, therefore, designated anti-S-1 (myosin S-1) and anti-LMM (light meromyosin). On Western blots of the total soluble pollen tube proteins, both anti-S-1 and anti-LMM label a polypeptide of approximately 175,000 Mr. Immunofluorescence microscopy shows that both antibodies yield numerous fluorescent spots throughout the whole length of the tube, often with an enrichment in the tube tip. These fluorescent spots are thought to represent vesicles and/or organelles in the pollen tubes. In addition to this common pattern, anti-S-1 stains both the generative cell and the vegetative nuclear envelope. The different staining patterns of the nucleus between anti-S-1 and anti-LMM may be caused by some organization and/or anchorage state of the myosin molecules on the nuclear surface that differs from those on the vesicles and/or organelles.


2014 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Bednarska

DNA and histone synthesis in five consecutive morphological stages of <em>Hyacinthus orientalis</em> L. pollen grain differentiation were studied autoradiographically. DNA synthesis was found to occur in both the generative and the vegetative cell. DNA replication in the generative cell took place when the generative cell was still adhered to the pollen grain wall but already devoid of callose wall. DNA synthesis in the generative cell slightly preceded that in the vegetative cell. Histones were synthesized in phase S of the generative and vegetative cell. In the generative cell histone synthesis also continued at a lower level after completion of DNA replication. In the developmental stages under study the nuclei of the generative cells were decidedly richer in lysine histones than vegetative cell nuclei.


2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 587-598 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Lewandowska ◽  
M. Charzyńska

About 90 per cent of <i>Tradescantia bracteata</i> pollen germinates <i>in vitro</i> after 15 min. Mitosis starts in the pollen tube after about 3 h. The mitotic trans-formations of chromosomes within the generative nucleus are not synchronized. They involve succesively the linearly arranged chromosomes in the elongated generative nucleus. In metaphase the chromosomes are arranged tandem-like linearly along the pollen tube. The chromatides translocate in anaphase from various distances to the poles in a plane parallel to the metaphase plate. This suggests that chromosomes have individual mitotic spindles and that coordination of the chromosome transformations in the generative cell is much less strict than in a typical somatic mitosis. Starch is the storage material of pollen grains. In the vegetative cytoplasm of mature pollen grains minute reddish-orange vesicular structures are visible after staining with neutral red. They do not fuse with the vacuoles proper arising in germinating pollen grains to form the vacuolar system of the pollen tube.


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