Pollen Tube Attraction by the Synergid Cell Higashiyama, Tetsuya; Yabe, Shizu; Sasaki, Narie ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
08/2001, Volume:
293, Issue:
5534
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
In flowering plants, guidance of the pollen tube to the embryo sac (the haploid female gametophyte) is critical for successful fertilization. The target embryo sac may attract the pollen tube as the ...final step of guidance in the pistil. We show by laser cell ablation that two synergid cells adjacent to the egg cell attract the pollen tube. A single synergid cell was sufficient to generate an attraction signal, and two cells enhanced it. After fertilization, the embryo sac no longer attracts the pollen tube, despite the persistence of one synergid cell. This cessation of attraction might be involved in blocking polyspermy.
Plastids are widespread in plant and algal lineages. They are also exploited by some nonphotosynthetic protists, including malarial parasites, to support their diverse modes of life. However, cryptic ...plastids may exist in other nonphotosynthetic protists, which could be important in studies on the diversity and evolution of plastids. The parasite Perkinsus marinus, which causes mass mortality in oyster farms, is a nonphotosynthetic protist that is phylogenetically related to plastid-bearing dinoflagellates and apicomplexans. In this study, we searched for P. marinus methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway genes, responsible for de novo isoprenoid synthesis in plastids, and determined the full-length gene sequences for 6 of 7 of these genes. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that each P. marinus gene clusters with orthologs from plastid-bearing eukaryotes, which have MEP pathway genes with essentially the same mosaic pattern of evolutionary origin. A new analytical method called sliding-window iteration of TargetP was developed to examine the distribution of targeting preferences. This analysis revealed that the sequenced genes encode bipartite targeting peptides that are characteristic of proteins targeted to secondary plastids originating from endosymbiosis of eukaryotic algae. These results support our idea that Perkinsus is a cryptic algal group containing nonphotosynthetic secondary plastids. In fact, immunofluorescent microscopy indicated that 1 of the MEP pathway enzymes, 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate reductoisomerase, was localized to small compartments near mitochondrion, which are possibly plastids. This tiny organelle seems to contain very low quantities of DNA or may even lack DNA entirely. The MEP pathway genes are a useful tool for investigating plastid evolution in both of the photosynthetic and nonphotosynthetic eukaryotes and led us to propose the hypothesis that ancestral "chromalveolates" harbored plastids before a secondary endosymbiotic event.
It is generally believed that the cell cycle consists essentially of the mitotic cycle, which involves mitosis and cytokinesis. These processes are becoming increasingly well understood at the ...molecular level. However, successful cell reproduction requires duplication and segregation (inheritance) of all of the cellular contents, including not only the cell-nuclear genome but also intracellular organelles. Eukaryotic cells contain at least three types of double membrane-bounded organelles (cell nucleus, mitochondria and plastids), four types of single membrane-bounded organelles (endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, lysosomes and microbodies) and the cytoskeleton, which comprises tubulin-based structures (including microtubules, centrosome and spindle) and actin microfilaments. These membrane-bounded organelles cannot be formed de novo and daughter organelles must be inherited from parent organelles during cell cycle. Regulation of organelle division and its coordination with the progression of the cell cycle involves a sequence of events that are subjected to precise spatio-temporal control. Considering that the cells of higher animals and plants contain many organelles which tend to behave somewhat randomly, there is little information concerning the division and inheritance of these double- and single-membrane-bounded organelles during the cell cycle. Here, we summarize the current cytological and morphological knowledge of the cell cycle, including the division cycles of seven membrane-bounded and some non-membrane-bounded organelles. The underlying mechanisms and the biological relevance of these processes are discussed, particularly with respect to cells of the primitive alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae that have a minimum of organelles. We discuss unsolved problems and future perspectives opened by recent studies.
Previous cell cycle studies have been based on cell-nuclear proliferation only. Eukaryotic cells, however, have double membranes-bound organelles, such as the cell nucleus, mitochondrion, plastids ...and single-membrane-bound organelles such as ER, the Golgi body, vacuoles (lysosomes) and microbodies. Organelle proliferations, which are very important for cell functions, are poorly understood. To clarify this, we performed a microarray analysis during the cell cycle of Cyanidioschyzon merolae. C. merolae cells contain a minimum set of organelles that divide synchronously. The nuclear, mitochondrial and plastid genomes were completely sequenced. The results showed that, of 158 genes induced during the S or G2-M phase, 93 were known and contained genes related to mitochondrial division, ftsZ1-1, ftsz1-2 and mda1, and plastid division, ftsZ2-1, ftsZ2-2 and cmdnm2. Moreover, three genes, involved in vesicle trafficking between the single-membrane organelles such as vps29 and the Rab family protein, were identified and might be related to partitioning of single-membrane-bound organelles. In other genes, 46 were hypothetical and 19 were hypothetical conserved. The possibility of finding novel organelle division genes from hypothetical and hypothetical conserved genes in the S and G2-M expression groups is discussed.
The precipitation radar (PR) onboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite is the first spaceborne radar to measure precipitation from space. The PR, operating at 13.8 GHz, is a ...128-element active phased array that allows a fast and sophisticated cross-track scanning over a swath width of 215 km with a cross-range spatial resolution of about 4.3 km. The PR has a minimum detectable rain rate of 0.5 mm/h with range resolution of 250 m. In order to achieve a reliable and accurate rain echo data for three years mission life, functions for internal and external calibrations are implemented. Through a series of PR flight-model tests on the ground and an initial checkout just after the TRMM launch, it is confirmed that the PR functions properly and meets the performance requirements to quantitatively measure three-dimensional (3D) precipitation distribution from space.
In this article, the camera settings for high-speed imaging of the arc, metal transfer, and weld pool in gas metal arc welding (GMAW) are investigated. The results show that by only changing camera ...exposure times and the selection of narrow bandpass filters, images that reveal features of the arc such as the iron vapor-dominated region, metal transfer and weld pool behavior can be produced without the need for external light sources. Using the images acquired, the arc length was measured and the relationship between arc length and arc voltage is discussed. The results show that for low values of current, the measured welding voltage increases with increasing arc length; however, for high current values, the arc voltage increases even though the measured arc length becomes shorter. It is suggested that the increase in arc voltage for high values of welding current is due to the increased evaporation of the wire electrode which decreases the plasma temperature and consequently the arc plasma electrical conductivity.
The double fertilization process in angiosperms is based on the delivery of a pair of sperm cells by the pollen tube (the male gametophyte), which elongates towards an embryo sac (the female ...gametophyte) enclosing an egg and a central cell. Several studies have described the mechanisms of gametophyte interaction, and also the fertilization process - from pollination to pollen tube acceptance. However, the mechanisms of gamete interaction are not fully understood. Cytological studies have shown that male gametes possess distinct cell-surface structures and genes specific to male gametes have been detected in cDNA libraries. Thus, studies of isolated gametes may offer clues to understanding the sperm-egg interaction. In this study, we identified a novel protein, designated GCS1 (GENERATIVE CELL SPECIFIC 1), using generative cells isolated from Lilium longiflorum pollen. GCS1 possesses a carboxy-terminal transmembrane domain, and homologues are present in various species, including non-angiosperms. Immunological assays indicate that GCS1 is accumulated during late gametogenesis and is localized on the plasma membrane of generative cells. In addition, Arabidopsis thaliana GCS1 mutant gametes fail to fuse, resulting in male sterility and suggesting that GCS1 is a critical fertilization factor in angiosperms.
The spatial resolution along the pad-row direction was measured with a GEM-based TPC prototype for the future linear collider experiment in order to understand its performance for tracks with finite ...projected angles with respect to the pad-row normal. The degradation of the resolution due to the angular pad effect was confirmed to be consistent with the prediction of a simple calculation taking into account the cluster-size distribution and the avalanche fluctuation.
Vanadium alloys, including the highly purified V-4Cr-4Ti alloy, were irradiated in liquid lithium up to a damage level of 3.7dpa in the HFIR at 425°C and 598°C. Neutron irradiation caused an increase ...of the ductile–brittle transition temperature (DBTT) and irradiation hardening was observed. Adding titanium to the V-Cr alloys was effective for increasing irradiation hardening at 425°C. For highly purified (Zr-treated) V-4Cr-4Ti alloys the irradiation hardening was significantly reduced at both 425°C and 598°C. However, microstructural observations after the irradiation experiments showed that there was no significant difference in microstructure between the original and the highly purified specimens. It is suggested that the reduction of irradiation hardening in the highly purified V-4Cr-4Ti alloys was caused by the configuration and distribution of interstitial impurities in the neutron-irradiated specimen matrix. Controlling the impurities in V-4Cr-4Ti alloys has a very important effect for improving their mechanical properties that take place under neutron irradiation at around 400°C.
FtsZ is a bacterial division protein which forms a ring at the leading edge of the cell division site. To date, a hypothesis that the plant FtsZ forms the same structure in chloroplast division is ...proposed, but has not been demonstrated yet. In this study, recombinant LlFtsZ (Lilium longiflorum FtsZ) protein was produced from a previously isolated ftsZ cDNA clone Mori and Tanaka (2000) Protoplasma 214: 57 and used to raise polyclonal anti-LlFtsZ antibodies in rabbits. In immunoblot analysis with the total protein extracted from L. Iongiflorum leaves, purified antibodies specifically recognized LlFtsZ whose molecular mass was approximately 43 kDa. This size corresponded to that of the recombinant LlFtsZ protein lacking N-terminal sequence, which suggests that the full-length LlFtsZ translation product has a putative N-terminpl signal peptide. Moreover, fluorescent and electron microscopy revealed that the anti-LlFtsZ antibodies recognized ring structures at stromal side of the constriction point of dividing chloroplasts. Here, we show direct evidence that FtsZ ring is involved in chloroplast division.
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