title: Visualisation of plastid degradation in sperm cells of wheat pollen.
abstract: Like most angiosperms, wheat (Triticum aestivum) shows maternal inheritance of plastids. It is thought that this takes place by cytoplasmic stripping at fertilisation rather than the absence of plastids in sperm cells. To determine the fate of plastids during sperm cell development, plastid-targeted green fluorescent protein was used to visualise these organelles in nuclear transgenic wheat lines. Fewer than thirty small 1-2-μm plastids were visible in early uninucleate pollen cells. These dramatically increased to several hundred larger (4 μm) plastids during pollen maturation and went through distinct morphological changes. Only small plastids were visible in generative cells (n = 25) and young sperm cells (n = 9). In mature sperm cells, these green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged plastids were absent. This is consistent with maternal inheritance of plastids resulting from their degradation in mature sperm cells in wheat.
authors.affiliation: Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, AL5 2JQ, UK.
authors.forename: Lucia F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Primavesi
authors.affiliation: Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, AL5 2JQ, UK.|Dow AgroSciences LLC, 9330 Zionsville Road, Indianapolis, IN, 46268, USA.
authors.forename: Huixia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Michael Smith Building, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK.
authors.forename: Elisabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Mudd
authors.affiliation: Michael Smith Building, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK.
authors.forename: Anil
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Day
authors.affiliation: Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, AL5 2JQ, UK. HDJ2@aber.ac.uk.|IBERS, University of Aberystwyth, Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3EE, UK. HDJ2@aber.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Huw D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D002454:Cell Differentiation; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D018087:Plastids / Q000378:metabolism*; D011058:Pollen / Q000166:cytology* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D014908:Triticum / Q000166:cytology*
chemical_list: D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins
keywords: GFP; Maternal inheritance; Plastid; Plastid networks; Pollen; Sperm cell; Wheat