From Birth to Function: Male Gametophyte Development in Flowering Plants

Overview

Journal Curr Opin Plant Biol

Specialty Biology

Date 2021 Oct 9

PMID 34625367

Citations 8

Authors

Jiaying Huang

Juan Dong

Li-Jia Qu

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Male germline development in flowering plants involves two distinct and successive phases, microsporogenesis and microgametogenesis, which involve one meiosis followed by two rounds of mitosis. Many aspects of distinctions after mitosis between the vegetative cell and the male germ cells are seen, from morphology to structure, and the differential functions of the two cell types in the male gametophyte are differentially needed and required for double fertilization. The two sperm cells, carriers of the hereditary substances, depend on the vegetative cell/pollen tube to be delivered to the female gametophyte for double fertilization. Thus, the intercellular communication and coordinated activity within the male gametophyte probably represent the most subtle regulation in flowering plants to guarantee the success of reproduction. This review will focus on what we have known about the differentiation process and the functional diversification of the vegetative cell and the male germ cell, the most crucial cell types for plant fertility and crop production.

Citing Articles

Dynamic changes in 3D chromatin structure during male gametogenesis in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Song Z, Xia Q, Yang M, Yang T, Liu Y, Wang D Genome Biol. 2025; 26(1):27.

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Comparative gametogenesis and genomic signatures associated with pollen sterility in the seedless mutant of grapevine.

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Effect of UV-B stress on olive (Olea europaea L.) pollen tubes: A study of callose plug deposition and male germ unit integrity.

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The BNB-GLID module regulates germline fate determination in Marchantia polymorpha.

Ren X, Zhang X, Qi X, Zhang T, Wang H, Twell D Plant Cell. 2024; 36(9):3824-3837.

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Heat stress at the bicellular stage inhibits sperm cell development and transport into pollen tubes.

Li X, Bruckmann A, Dresselhaus T, Begcy K Plant Physiol. 2024; 195(3):2111-2128.

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