Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 107, Issue 4, Pages 1684-1689Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0905795107
Keywords
endoplasmic reticulum; molecular chaperone; nuclear fusion; fertilization; female gametogenesis
Categories
Funding
- MEXT Japan [16085202, 1685101]
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [19058005, 16085202] Funding Source: KAKEN
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Nuclear fusion is an essential process in the sexual reproduction of animals and plants. In flowering plants, nuclear fusion occurs three times: once during female gametogenesis, when the two polar nuclei fuse to produce the diploid central cell nucleus, and twice during double fertilization. The yeast Ig binding protein (BiP) is a molecular chaperone Hsp70 in the endoplasmic reticulum that regulates nuclear membrane fusion during mating. Here we report that in Arabidopsis thaliana, BiP is involved in the fusion of polar nuclei during female gametophyte development. BiP-deficient mature female gametophytes contain two unfused polar nuclei, in spite of their close contact. This indicates a surprising conservation of BiP function in nuclear fusion between plants and yeasts. We also found that endosperm nuclear division becomes aberrant after fertilization of the BiP-deficient female gametophytes with wild-type pollen. This is experimental evidence for the importance of fusion of the polar nuclei in the proliferation of endosperm nuclei.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available