Anther and pollen development: A conserved developmental pathway

Abstract

Pollen development is a critical step in plant development that is needed for successful breeding and seed formation. Manipulation of male fertility has proved a useful trait for hybrid breeding and increased crop yield. However, although there is a good understanding developing of the molecular mechanisms of anther and pollen anther development in model species, such as Arabidopsis and rice, little is known about the equivalent processes in important crops. Nevertheless the onset of increased genomic information and genetic tools is facilitating translation of information from the models to crops, such as barley and wheat; this will enable increased understanding and manipulation of these pathways for agricultural improvement.

OsACOS12, an orthologue of Arabidopsis acyl-CoA synthetase5, plays an important role in pollen exine formation and anther development in rice

“…Pollen development is the major event of male reproduction. Developmental defects leading to male sterility are widely used for hybrid production in agriculture [1]. During pollen development, pollen wall formation is a key process required for pollen viability and male fertility.…”

A Rice Ca2+ Binding Protein Is Required for Tapetum Function and Pollen Formation

“…Formation of the male gametophyte is a complex process that starts with anther morphogenesis, followed by microspore formation via meiosis and mitosis (Ma, 2005;Gómez et al, 2015;Zhang and Liang, 2016). The somatic cell layers surrounding the microsporocytes include the epidermis, endothecium, middle layer, and tapetum, which are required for normal pollen development.…”

Transcriptome Analysis of Hamelia patens (Rubiaceae) Anthers Reveals Candidate Genes for Tapetum and Pollen Wall Development

“…LAP3 is essential for pollen development and proper exine formation (Dobritsa et al, 2009), and the homologous Unigene27400 shows peak expression at TET stage. Unigene34182 shows peak expression at TET and UNM stages and represents the H. patens homolog of MS2 , which is involved in exine development and is expressed in tapetum shortly after microspore release (Aarts et al, 1997; Gómez et al, 2015). Unigene33351 and CL9729-Contig3 show higher read counts at TET stage and are homologous to the gene ABCG26/WBC27 .…”