Abstract
Extracellular ATP (eATP) plays an essential role in plant growth, development, and stress tolerance. Here, we report that eATP participated in Nicotiana tabacum pollen germination (PG) and pollen tube growth (PTG) by regulating K+ and Ca2+ influx. Exogenous ATP or ADP effectively promoted PG and PTG in a dose-dependent manner; weakly hydrolysable ATP analog (ATPγS) showed a similar effect. AMP, adenosine, adenine, and phosphate did not affect PG or PTG. Within a certain range, higher concentrations of K+ or Ca2+ in the medium increased the effect of ATP in promoting PG and PTG. However, in mediums containing K+ or Ca2+ concentrations above this range, the effect of ATP was reversed, resulting in PG and PTG inhibition. Ca2+ chelators (EGTA), Ca2+ channel blockers, and K+ channel blockers suppressed ATP-promoted PG and PTG. Results from a patch clamp showed that ATP activated a K+ and Ca2+ influx in pollen protoplasts. These results suggest that, as an apoplastic signal, eATP may be involved in PG and PTG via regulating Ca2+ and K+ absorption.
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This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31370319).
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Fig. S1
Detection of Nicotiana tabacum pollen grain viability. Pollen grains were dyed with FDA and then photographed with fluorescence microscope. The upper and lower lines note pollen grains before (control) and after being washed for 10 times, respectively. In each line, images from left to right mark the transmission, fluorescence and merged image, respectively. (JPEG 999 kb)
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Wu, Y., Qin, B., Feng, K. et al. Extracellular ATP promoted pollen germination and tube growth of Nicotiana tabacum through promoting K+ and Ca2+ absorption. Plant Reprod 31, 399–410 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00497-018-0341-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00497-018-0341-6