Pollen grains are the mature male (haploid) gametophyte of higher plants. These tiny organs (10-100 IJ.m in diameter) develop in the anthers (Stanley and Linskens, 1974). When the flower opens the anthers become exposed to the environment and dehydration triggers a mechanism for release of the pollen. In the process, the pollen also dehydrates. Though the pollen of most species can withstand dr...

In some plants, pollen grains accumulate storage lipids that serve as energy supply during germination. Here, three enzymes involved in early steps of oil body mobilization in the male gametophyte were functionally characterized for the first time. The effect of extracellular sugars on pollen performance and oil body dynamics was also analysed. Olive pollen oil bodies showed phospholipase A, li...

Pollen germination of Vitis vinifera L., of the family Vitaceae was examined in fresh and stored pollen upto 48 weeks at different temperature i.e., refrigerator (+4C), freezer (-20C, -30C) and freeze drier (-60C). Pollen stored at low temperature showed better germination percentage as compared to pollen stored at +4C and fresh. Freeze dried pollen (-60C) showed the highest germination percent...

Bee gathered pollen is regarded as valuable special food and is used also in apitherapy. A production method, that ensures good pollen quality is described, as well as the main quality criteria, that can be included in a future standard. There are sensory, microbiological and physico-chemical quality criteria. Most important for the pollen quality is the water content. It is proposed, that the ...

The flowering plant pollen tube is the fastest elongating plant cell and transports the sperm cells for double fertilization. The highly dynamic formation and reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton is essential for pollen germination and pollen tube growth. To drive pollen-specific expression of fluorescent marker proteins, commonly the strong Lat52 promoter is used. Here we show by quantitat...

Cryopreservation of pollen from two ginseng species —Panax ginseng L. and P. quinquefolium L.—was studied. Freezing anthers that served as pollen carriers to –40C before liquid N storage affected pollen viability little after liquid N storage. Anther moisture content affected pollen viability significantly when stored in liquid N. The ideal anther moisture content to carry pollen for liquid N s...

The regulation of protein collection through pollen foraging plays an important role in pollination and in the life of bee colonies that adjust their foraging to natural variation in pollen protein quality and temporal availability. Bumble bees occupy a wide range of habitats from the Nearctic to the Tropics in which they play an important role as pollinators. However, little is known about how...