Journal
PROTOPLASMA
Volume 251, Issue 1, Pages 211-217Publisher
SPRINGER WIEN
DOI: 10.1007/s00709-013-0539-2
Keywords
Apomixis; Egg apparatus; Female gametophyte; Filiform apparatus; Synergid; Taraxacum
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Funding
- Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education/NCN [N N303 807940]
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An evolutionary trend to reduce unnecessary costs associated with the sexual reproduction of their amphimictic ancestors, which may result in greater reproductive success, has been observed among the obligatory apomicts. However, in the case of the female gametophyte, knowledge about this trend in apomicts is not sufficient because most of the ultrastructural studies of the female gametophyte have dealt with amphimictic angiosperms. In this paper, we tested the hypothesis that, in contrast to amphimictic plants, synergids in apomictic embryo sacs do not form a filiform apparatus. We compared the synergid structure in two dandelions from sect. Palustria: the amphimictic diploid Taraxacum tenuifolium and the apomictic tetraploid, male-sterile Taraxacum brandenburgicum. Synergids in both species possessed a filiform apparatus. In T. brandenburgicum, both synergids persisted for a long time without any degeneration, in spite of the presence of an embryo and endosperm. We propose that the persistent synergids in apomicts may play a role in the transport of nutrients to the embryo.
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