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Neither compatible nor self-incompatible pollinations of Brassica napus involve reorganization of the papillar cytoskeleton

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 1999

J. D. W. DEARNALEY
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3 Canada Current address: Department of Biological and Physical Sciences, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, 4350, Australia.
K. M. CLARK
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3 Canada Current address: Department of Biological and Physical Sciences, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, 4350, Australia.
I. B. HEATH
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3 Canada
R. R. LEW
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3 Canada
D. R. GORING
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3 Canada
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Abstract

Compatible pollination of Brassica napus necessitates pollen hydration, pollen germination and growth of the pollen tube through the loosened walls of stigmatic papillar cells, whereas self-incompatible (SI) pollinations fail at one of these stages. Analyses of the early stages of pollination show that at high (but not low) relative humidities, both compatible and SI pollen hydrates, but SI germination is reduced and the rare pollen tubes generally fail to penetrate the papillar walls, although there is some wall loosening. Inside the papillae, both compatible and SI interactions may induce the formation of callose, but there is no evidence for a major accumulation of cytoplasm or secretory vesicles in the vicinity of the pollen tubes and neither microtubule nor F-actin patterns re-arrange in this zone. These observations indicate that the source of the wall-loosening enzymes is probably the pollen tube or pollen coat, and that the common cellular responses of plants to attempted invasions have become suppressed in the papilla–pollen tube interaction.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Trustees of New Phytologist 1999

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