title: Intercellular communication in Arabidopsis thaliana pollen discovered via AHG3 transcript movement from the vegetative cell to sperm.
abstract: An Arabidopsis pollen grain (male gametophyte) consists of three cells: the vegetative cell, which forms the pollen tube, and two sperm cells enclosed within the vegetative cell. It is still unclear if there is intercellular communication between the vegetative cell and the sperm cells. Here we show that ABA-hypersensitive germination3 (AHG3), encoding a protein phosphatase, is specifically transcribed in the vegetative cell but predominantly translated in sperm cells. We used a series of deletion constructs and promoter exchanges to document transport of AHG3 transcripts from the vegetative cell to sperm and showed that their transport requires sequences in both the 5' UTR and the coding region. Thus, in addition its known role in transporting sperm during pollen tube growth, the vegetative cell also contributes transcripts to the sperm cells.
authors.affiliation: Plant Gene Expression Center, US Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Albany, CA 94710; Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; Department of Plant Biology, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden; Linnean Center of Plant Biology, Uppsala, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden;
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Plant Gene Expression Center, US Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Albany, CA 94710; Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; Department of Plant Biology, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden; Linnean Center of Plant Biology, Uppsala, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden;
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.affiliation: Plant Genomics Laboratory, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, 2780-156 Oeiras, Portugal.
authors.forename: Leonor C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Boavida
authors.affiliation: Plant Gene Expression Center, US Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Albany, CA 94710; Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720;
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Plant Genomics Laboratory, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, 2780-156 Oeiras, Portugal.
authors.forename: Jörg D
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6845-6122
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden; Linnean Center of Plant Biology, Uppsala, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden; sheilamc@berkeley.edu claudia.kohler@slu.se.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Köhler
authors.affiliation: Plant Gene Expression Center, US Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Albany, CA 94710; Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; sheilamc@berkeley.edu claudia.kohler@slu.se.
authors.forename: Sheila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McCormick
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000502:physiology*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D055993:Germ Cells, Plant / Q000378:metabolism; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases / Q000378:metabolism*; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D011058:Pollen / Q000502:physiology*; D021381:Protein Transport / Q000502:physiology; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D017931:DNA Primers; C463465:AHG3 protein, Arabidopsis; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases
keywords: mRNA transport; pollen; protein phosphatase 2C; sperm; vegetative nucleus