title: Lack of phosphoserine phosphatase activity alters pollen and tapetum development in Arabidopsis thaliana.
abstract: Formation of mature pollen grain, an essential process for the reproduction of higher plants, is affected in lines that are deficient in the enzymes of the phosphorylated pathway of serine biosynthesis (PPSB). Mutants of phosphoserine phosphatase (PSP), the enzyme that catalyses the last step of PPSB, are embryo-lethal. When they are complemented with a construct carrying PSP1 cDNA under the control of the 35S promoter (psp1.1 35S:PSP1), which is poorly expressed in anther tissues, plants display a wild-type phenotype, but are male-sterile. The pollen from the psp1.1 35S:PSP1 lines are shrunken and unviable. Here we report the morphological alterations that appear in the psp1.1 35S:PSP1 lines during microspore development. We show that the pollen wall from these lines presents a normal exine layer, but a shrunken and collapsed shape. Lack of PSP activity also affects oil bodies formation in the tapetosomes of tapetal cells which, in turn, may influence microspore pollen coat formation. All these results highlight the important role of the PPSB in the normal development of microspores in Arabidopsis thaliana.
authors.affiliation: ERI de Biotecnologia i Biomedicina, Departament de Biologia Vegetal, Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de València, 46100 Burjassot (Valencia), Spain. Electronic address: Maria.Flores@uv.es.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Flores-Tornero
authors.affiliation: ERI de Biotecnologia i Biomedicina, Departament de Biologia Vegetal, Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de València, 46100 Burjassot (Valencia), Spain. Electronic address: Armand.Anoman@uv.es.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Anoman
authors.affiliation: ERI de Biotecnologia i Biomedicina, Departament de Biologia Vegetal, Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de València, 46100 Burjassot (Valencia), Spain. Electronic address: sara.rosa@uv.es.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rosa-Téllez
authors.affiliation: ERI de Biotecnologia i Biomedicina, Departament de Biologia Vegetal, Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de València, 46100 Burjassot (Valencia), Spain. Electronic address: Roc.Ros@uv.es.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ros
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D035264:Flowers / Q000254:growth & development*; D010744:Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases / Q000378:metabolism*; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000378:metabolism; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D011058:Pollen / Q000254:growth & development*; D054817:Pollination; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012694:Serine / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D010938:Plant Oils; D010940:Plant Proteins; D012694:Serine; D010744:Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases; C022394:phosphoserine phosphatase
keywords: Oil bodies; Phosphorylated pathway of serine biosynthesis; Phosphoserine phosphatase; Pollen coat; Tapetal cells; Tapetosomes