Disappearance of plastid and mitochondrial nucleoids during the formation of generative cells of higher plants revealed by fluorescence microscopy

Summary

The fate of plastid and mitochondrial nucleoids (pt and mt nucleoids) ofTriticum aestivum was followed during the reproductive organ formation using fluorescence microscopy after staining with 4'6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI). This investigation showed a drastic morphological change of pt nucleoids during the differentiation of reproductive organs from the shoot apex. Dot-shaped pt nucleoids grew into ring-shaped ones, which divided into small pieces in the monocellular pollen grain, as observed in this plant's earlier stage of leaf development. During the development of mature pollen grain from monocellular pollen grain, pt and/or mt nucleoids disappeared through the division of the male generative cell ofT. aestivum. Cytologically, this observation is direct evidence of the maternal inheritance of higher plants. Thus far, cytological evidence of this phenomenon has been found mostly by morphological criteria using electron microscopy, which admits some ambiguity. In the plants exemplified byLilium longiflorum, pt and/or mt nucleoids disappeared after the first pollen grain mitosis, which precededT. aestivum. In the plants exemplified byTrifolium repens, pt and/or mt nucleoids existed in the generative cells of the mature pollen grain.

The significance of these observations was discussed in relation to the interaction between nuclear and organelle genomes during plant development.