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Visualisation of plastid degradation in sperm cells of wheat pollen

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Abstract

Like most angiosperms, wheat (Triticum aestivum) shows maternal inheritance of plastids. It is thought that this takes place by cytoplasmic stripping at fertilisation rather than the absence of plastids in sperm cells. To determine the fate of plastids during sperm cell development, plastid-targeted green fluorescent protein was used to visualise these organelles in nuclear transgenic wheat lines. Fewer than thirty small 1–2-μm plastids were visible in early uninucleate pollen cells. These dramatically increased to several hundred larger (4 μm) plastids during pollen maturation and went through distinct morphological changes. Only small plastids were visible in generative cells (n = 25) and young sperm cells (n = 9). In mature sperm cells, these green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged plastids were absent. This is consistent with maternal inheritance of plastids resulting from their degradation in mature sperm cells in wheat.

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Acknowledgments

Rothamsted Research receives support from the Biotechnological and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) of the UK as part of the 20:20 Wheat® Programme.

Work was supported by grant number GM114215. We thank Caroline Sparks for her invaluable help and also Richard Parkinson and Fiona Gilzean for their assistance in growing the wheat plants.

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Author notes

  1. Huixia Wu

    Present address: Dow AgroSciences LLC, 9330 Zionsville Road, Indianapolis, IN, 46268, USA

  2. Huw D. Jones

    Present address: IBERS, University of Aberystwyth, Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3EE, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, AL5 2JQ, UK

    Lucia F. Primavesi, Huixia Wu & Huw D. Jones

  2. Michael Smith Building, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK

    Elisabeth A. Mudd & Anil Day

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  1. Lucia F. Primavesi
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Correspondence to Huw D. Jones.

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Handling Editor: Benedikt Kost

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Primavesi, L.F., Wu, H., Mudd, E.A. et al. Visualisation of plastid degradation in sperm cells of wheat pollen. Protoplasma 254, 229–237 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-015-0935-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-015-0935-x

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