Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 28 January 2005:
Vol. 307. no. 5709, pp. 573 - 576
DOI: 10.1126/science.1104954
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Micropylar Pollen Tube Guidance by Egg Apparatus 1 of Maize

Mihaela L. Márton,1 Simone Cordts,1 Jean Broadhvest,2 Thomas Dresselhaus1*

Pollen tube guidance precedes the double fertilization of flowering plants. Here, we report the identification of a small maize protein of 94 amino acids involved in short-range signaling required for pollen tube attraction by the female gametophyte. ZmEA1 is exclusively expressed in the egg apparatus, consisting of the egg cell and two synergids. Chimeric ZmEA1 fused to green fluorescent protein (ZmEA1:GFP) was first visible within the filiform apparatus and later was localized to nucellar cell walls below the micropylar opening of the ovule. Transgenic down-regulation of the ZmEA1 gene led to ovule sterility caused by loss of close-range pollen tube guidance to the micropyle.

1 Biocenter Klein Flottbek, Developmental Biology and Biotechnology, University of Hamburg, Ohnhorststrasse 18, D-22609 Hamburg, Germany.
2 Bayer BioScience N.V., Technologiepark 38, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dresselh{at}botanik.uni-hamburg.de

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Sporophytic control of pollen tube growth and guidance in maize.
A. Lausser, I. Kliwer, K.-o. Srilunchang, and T. Dresselhaus (2009)
J. Exp. Bot.
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Disruption of the pollen-expressed FERONIA homologs ANXUR1 and ANXUR2 triggers pollen tube discharge.
A. Boisson-Dernier, S. Roy, K. Kritsas, M. A. Grobei, M. Jaciubek, J. I. Schroeder, and U. Grossniklaus (2009)
Development 136, 3279-3288
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Transmitting tissue architecture in basal-relictual angiosperms: Implications for transmitting tissue origins.
T. L. Sage, K. Hristova-Sarkovski, V. Koehl, J. Lyew, V. Pontieri, P. Bernhardt, P. Weston, S. Bagha, and G. Chiu (2009)
Am. J. Botany 96, 183-206
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
MAA3 (MAGATAMA3) Helicase Gene is Required for Female Gametophyte Development and Pollen Tube Guidance in Arabidopsis thaliana.
K. K. Shimizu, T. Ito, S. Ishiguro, and K. Okada (2008)
Plant Cell Physiol. 49, 1478-1483
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
GEX3, Expressed in the Male Gametophyte and in the Egg Cell of Arabidopsis thaliana, Is Essential for Micropylar Pollen Tube Guidance and Plays a Role during Early Embryogenesis.
M. Alandete-Saez, M. Ron, and S. McCormick (2008)
Mol Plant 1, 586-598
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Targeting of Pollen Tubes to Ovules Is Dependent on Nitric Oxide (NO) Signaling.
A. M. Prado, R. Colaco, N. Moreno, A. C. Silva, and J. A. Feijo (2008)
Mol Plant 1, 703-714
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Central Cell Plays a Critical Role in Pollen Tube Guidance in Arabidopsis.
Y.-H. Chen, H.-J. Li, D.-Q. Shi, L. Yuan, J. Liu, R. Sreenivasan, R. Baskar, U. Grossniklaus, and W.-C. Yang (2007)
PLANT CELL 19, 3563-3577
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The FERONIA Receptor-like Kinase Mediates Male-Female Interactions During Pollen Tube Reception.
J.-M. Escobar-Restrepo, N. Huck, S. Kessler, V. Gagliardini, J. Gheyselinck, W.-C. Yang, and U. Grossniklaus (2007)
Science 317, 656-660
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
MYB98 Positively Regulates a Battery of Synergid-Expressed Genes Encoding Filiform Apparatus Localized Proteins.
J. A. Punwani, D. S. Rabiger, and G. N. Drews (2007)
PLANT CELL 19, 2557-2568
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Pollen tube growth in association with a dry-type stigmatic transmitting tissue and extragynoecial compitum in the basal angiosperm Kadsura longipedunculata (Schisandraceae).
J. Lyew, Z. Li, Y. Liang-Chen, L. Yi-bo, and T. L. Sage (2007)
Am. J. Botany 94, 1170-1182
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The indeterminate gametophyte1 Gene of Maize Encodes a LOB Domain Protein Required for Embryo Sac and Leaf Development.
M. M.S. Evans (2007)
PLANT CELL 19, 46-62
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Arabidopsis HAP2 (GCS1) is a sperm-specific gene required for pollen tube guidance and fertilization.
K. von Besser, A. C. Frank, M. A. Johnson, and D. Preuss (2006)
Development 133, 4761-4769
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Species Preferentiality of the Pollen Tube Attractant Derived from the Synergid Cell of Torenia fournieri.
T. Higashiyama, R. Inatsugi, S. Sakamoto, N. Sasaki, T. Mori, H. Kuroiwa, T. Nakada, H. Nozaki, T. Kuroiwa, and A. Nakano (2006)
Plant Physiology 142, 481-491
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Maternal Gametophytic baseless1 Is Required for Development of the Central Cell and Early Endosperm Patterning in Maize (Zea mays).
J. F. Gutierrez-Marcos, L. M. Costa, and M. M. S. Evans (2006)
Genetics 174, 317-329
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Maize aberrant pollen transmission 1 Gene Is a SABRE/KIP Homolog Required for Pollen Tube Growth.
Z. Xu and H. K. Dooner (2006)
Genetics 172, 1251-1261
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Evolution of reproductive proteins from animals and plants.
N. L Clark, J. E Aagaard, and W. J Swanson (2006)
Reproduction 131, 11-22
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
MYB98 Is Required for Pollen Tube Guidance and Synergid Cell Differentiation in Arabidopsis.
R. D. Kasahara, M. F. Portereiko, L. Sandaklie-Nikolova, D. S. Rabiger, and G. N. Drews (2005)
PLANT CELL 17, 2981-2992
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
TRANSPARENT LEAF AREA1 Encodes a Secreted Proteolipid Required for Anther Maturation, Morphogenesis, and Differentiation during Leaf Development in Maize.
T. Dresselhaus, S. Amien, M. Marton, A. Strecke, R. Brettschneider, and S. Cordts (2005)
PLANT CELL 17, 730-745
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)