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Pollen-Pistil Interactions and Fertilization

  • Chapter
Developmental Biology of Flowering Plants

Abstract

In spite of the broad range in size, shape, and exine patterns displayed by pollen grains of flowering plants, mature pollen released from the anther face common problems in accomplishing their goal of delivering the sperm cells to the vicinity of the egg for fertilization. The initial problem involves the transfer of pollen grains from the anther to the stigma of the same flower or another flower on the same or a different plant of the same species in the act of pollination. Successful fertilization is the tangible evidence of completion of a series of subtle and complex processes from the time pollen grains land on the stigma. Nurtured by the nutrient substances of the stigmatic exudate, pollen grains germinate and the pollen tubes produced travel through the stylar matrix to reach the ovary, seek out an ovule, and appear in the embryo sac where the sperm cells are discharged. These events collectively embody pollen-pistil interactions, or the progamic phase. In the embryo sac, one of the two sperm cells fuses with the egg to form the zygote, and the second sperm fuses with the diploid polar fusion nucleus to form the primary endosperm nucleus. The occurrence of two fusion events involving both sperm cells constitutes what is known in the popular jargon as double fertilization, although true fertilization is represented by the union of the egg and the sperm.

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  1. Department of Plant Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210-1293, USA

    V. Raghavan

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Raghavan, V. (2000). Pollen-Pistil Interactions and Fertilization. In: Developmental Biology of Flowering Plants. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-1234-8_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-1234-8_11

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