Extracellular invertase mediates phloem unloading via an apoplastic pathway. The gene encoding isoenzyme Nin88 from tobacco was cloned and shown to be characterized by a specific spatial and temporal expression pattern. Tissue-specific antisense repression of Nin88 under control of the corresponding promoter in tobacco results in a block during early stages of pollen development, thus, causing male sterility. This result demonstrates a critical role of extracellular invertase in pollen development and strongly supports the essential function of extracellular sucrose cleavage for supplying carbohydrates to sink tissues via the apoplast. The specific interference with phloem unloading, the sugar status, and metabolic signaling during pollen formation will be a potentially valuable approach to induce male sterility in various crop species for hybrid seed production.

Fruit and seed formation in plants is normally initiated after pollination and fertilization, and, in the absence of fertilization, flowers senesce. In the Arabidopsis thaliana mutant fruit without fertilization, a mutation in AUXIN RESPONSE FACTOR8 (ARF8) results in the uncoupling of fruit development from pollination and fertilization and gives rise to seedless (parthenocarpic) fruit. Parthenocarpy was confirmed in two additional recessive alleles and was caused by mutations within the coding region of ARF8. Genetic experiments indicate that ARF8 acts as an inhibitor to stop further carpel development in the absence of fertilization and the generation of signals required to initiate fruit and seed development. Expression of ARF8 was found to be regulated at multiple levels, and transcriptional autoregulation of ARF8 was observed. Analysis of plants transformed with a transcriptional P ARF8 :b-glucuronidase (GUS) construct or a translational ARF8:GUS fusion construct displayed distinct developmental regulation of the reporter in floral tissues involved in pollination and fertilization and in the carpel wall. After fertilization, the level of GUS activity declined in the developing seed, while in unfertilized ovules that are destined to senesce, ARF8:GUS expression spread throughout the ovule. This is consistent with a proposed role for ARF8 in restricting signal transduction processes in ovules and growth in pistils until the fruit initiation cue.

Fruit initiation in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) is generally repressed until fertilization occurs. However, mutations in AUXIN RESPONSE FACTOR8 (ARF8) uncouple fruit initiation from fertilization, resulting in the formation of seedless, parthenocarpic fruit. Here we induced parthenocarpy in wild-type Arabidopsis by introducing either the mutant genomic (g) Atarf8-4 sequence or gAtARF8:b-glucuronidase translational fusion constructs by plant transformation. Silencing of endogenous AtARF8 transcription was not observed, indicating that the introduced, aberrant ARF8 transcripts were compromising the function of endogenous ARF8 and/or associated factors involved in suppressing fruit initiation. To analyze the role of ARF8 in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) we initially emasculated 23 tomato cultivars to test for background parthenocarpy. Surprisingly, all had a predisposition to initiate fertilization-independent fruit growth. Expression of gAtarf8-4 in transgenic tomato ('Monalbo') resulted in a significant increase in the number and size of parthenocarpic fruit. Isolation of tomato ARF8 cDNA indicated significant sequence conservation with AtARF8. SlARF8 may therefore control tomato fruit initiation in a similar manner as AtARF8 does in Arabidopsis. Two SlARF8 cDNAs differing in size by 5 bp were found, both arising from the same gene. The smaller cDNA is a splice variant and is also present in Arabidopsis. We propose that low endogenous levels of the splice variant products might interfere with efficient formation/function of a complex repressing fruit initiation, thereby providing an explanation for the observed ovary expansion in tomato and also Arabidopsis after emasculation. Increasing the levels of aberrant Atarf8-4 transcripts may further destabilize formation/function of the complex in a dosage-dependent manner enhancing tomato parthenocarpic fruit initiation frequency and size and mimicking the parthenocarpic dehiscent silique phenotype found in homozygous Atarf8-4 mutants. Collectively these data suggest that similar mechanisms involving auxin signaling exist to inhibit parthenocarpic fruit set in tomato and Arabidopsis.

Pollination in flowering plants is initiated by germination of pollen grains on stigmas followed by fast growth of pollen tubes representing highly energy-consuming processes. The symplastic isolation of pollen grains and tubes requires import of Suc available in the apoplast. We show that the functional coupling of Suc cleavage by invertases and uptake of the released hexoses by monosaccharide transporters are critical for pollination in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum). Transcript profiling, in situ hybridization, and immunolocalization of extracellular invertases and two monosaccharide transporters in vitro and in vivo support the functional coupling in supplying carbohydrates for pollen germination and tube growth evidenced by spatiotemporally coordinated expression. Detection of vacuolar invertases in maternal tissues by these approaches revealed metabolic cross talk between male and female tissues and supported the requirement for carbohydrate supply in transmitting tissue during pollination. Tissue-specific expression of an invertase inhibitor and addition of the chemical invertase inhibitor miglitol strongly reduced extracellular invertase activity and impaired pollen germination. Measurements of (competitive) uptake of labeled sugars identified two import pathways for exogenously available Suc into the germinating pollen operating in parallel: direct Suc uptake and via the hexoses after cleavage by extracellular invertase. Reduction of extracellular invertase activity in pollen decreases Suc uptake and severely compromises pollen germination. We further demonstrate that Glc as sole carbon source is sufficient for pollen germination, whereas Suc is supporting tube growth, revealing an important regulatory role of both the invertase substrate and products contributing to a potential metabolic and signaling-based multilayer regulation of pollination by carbohydrates.