Identification of kaonashi Mutants Showing Abnormal Pollen Exine Structure in Arabidopsis thaliana

Identification of kaonashi Mutants Showing Abnormal Pollen Exine Structure in Arabidopsis thaliana

Exine, the outermost architecture of pollen walls, protects male gametes from the environment by virtue of its chemical and physical stability. Although much effort has been devoted to revealing the mechanism of exine construction, still little is known about it. To identify the genes involved in exine formation, we screened for Arabidopsis mutants with pollen grains exhibiting abnormal exine s...

KNS4/UPEX1: A Type II Arabinogalactan β-(1,3)-Galactosyltransferase Required for Pollen Exine Development.

Pollen exine is essential for protection from the environment of the male gametes of seed-producing plants, but its assembly and composition remain poorly understood. We previously characterized Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) mutants with abnormal pollen exine structure and morphology that we named kaonashi (kns). Here we describe the identification of the causal gene of kns4 that was found...

Identification of ascorbic acid-deficient Arabidopsis thaliana mutants.

Vitamin C (l-ascorbic acid) is a potent antioxidant and cellular reductant present at millimolar concentrations in plants. This small molecule has roles in the reduction of prosthetic metal ions, cell wall expansion, cell division, and in the detoxification of reactive oxygen generated by photosynthesis and adverse environmental conditions. However, unlike in animals, the biosynthesis of ascorb...

Formation of unreduced pollen in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Sexual polyploidization, as a result of 2n gamete formation, is thought to be the main process involved in the origin of polyploid plants (Bretagnolle & Thompson, 1995). These gametes, possessing the somatic rather than the gametophytic chromosome number, can be formed either during microsporogenesis (2n pollen, big pollen, diplandroidy) or megasporogenesis (2n eggs, diplogynoecy). In general, ...

Arabinogalactan Proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana Pollen Development