Endosperm Development

Abstract

Endosperm is a tissue in the seeds of many plants and supports embryonic and seedling growth by providing nutrients stored in its cells. As the stored products, starches, proteins and oils are valuable to humans for nutrition and as industrial materials, endosperm development has been well documented, particularly in cereal plants such as maize, barley and rice. Molecular genetics and genomics analyses have also been widely applied to the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana . Although the structures and amounts of endosperm within mature seeds vary considerably among plant species, most of the developmental events, such as genetic and epigenetic controls, are conserved. Key Concepts The programme of endosperm development varies among plant species. In most angiosperm species, seeds have three genetically distinct tissues: maternal diploid seed coat, fertilised diploid embryo and triploid endosperm. Endosperm consists of differentiated tissues that have distinct roles. Roles of parental genomes in the endosperm (2 maternal and 1 paternal) are not equivalent owing to asymmetric epigenetic modifications, similar to those in the mammalian placenta. Hybridisation barrier can be seen in the endosperm.