The central cell plays a critical role in pollen tube guidance in Arabidopsis.
The sperm cell of flowering plants cannot migrate unaided and must be transported by the pollen tube cell of the male gametophyte to achieve successful fertilization. Long-distance pollen tube guidance is controlled by the seven-celled female gametophyte, the embryo sac. Previous reports showed that the synergid cell of the embryo sac is essential for pollen tube guidance. Here, we report the identification of a central cell guidance (ccg) mutant, which is defective in micropylar pollen tube guidance. CCG encodes a nuclear protein with an N-terminal conserved zinc beta-ribbon domain that is functionally interchangeable with that of TFIIB in yeast. This suggests that CCG might act as a transcription regulator for pollen tube guidance. CCG is expressed in the central cell of the female gametophyte. Expression of CCG in the central cell alone is sufficient to restore the normal pollen tube guidance phenotype, demonstrating that the central cell plays a critical role in pollen tube guidance.
Key Laboratory of Molecular and Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Yan-Hong
YH
Chen
Hong-Ju
HJ
Li
Dong-Qiao
DQ
Shi
Li
L
Yuan
Jie
J
Liu
Rajini
R
Sreenivasan
Ramarmurthy
R
Baskar
Ueli
U
Grossniklaus
Wei-Cai
WC
Yang
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics / Q000648:ultrastructure; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D019070:Cell Lineage; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D005306:Fertilization; D005718:Gametogenesis; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant; D005966:Glucuronidase / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D050505:Mutant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D009928:Organ Specificity; D010641:Phenotype; D053205:Pollen Tube / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011485:Protein Binding; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D036226:Seedlings / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics / Q000648:ultrastructure; D035581:Transcription Factor TFIIB / Q000378:metabolism; D019473:Transcription Factors, TFII / Q000378:metabolism
D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D050505:Mutant Proteins; D035581:Transcription Factor TFIIB; D019473:Transcription Factors, TFII; D005966:Glucuronidase; C056604:transcription factor TFIIF