The molecular signatures of compatible and incompatible pollination in Arabidopsis

Abstract

Background Fertilization in flowering plants depends on the early contact and acceptance of pollen grains by the receptive papilla cells of the stigma. Deciphering the specific transcriptomic response of both pollen and stigmatic cells during their interaction constitutes an important challenge to better our understanding of this cell recognition event. Results Here we describe a transcriptomic analysis based on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) present in two Arabidopsis thaliana accessions, one used as female and the other as male. This strategy allowed us to distinguish 80% of transcripts according to their parental origins. We also developed a tool which predicts male/female specific expression for genes without SNP. We report an unanticipated transcriptional activity triggered in stigma upon incompatible pollination and show that following compatible interaction, components of the pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) pathway are induced on the female side. Conclusions Our work unveils the molecular signatures of compatible and incompatible pollinations both at the male and female side. We provide invaluable resource and tools to identify potential new molecular players involved in pollen-stigma interaction.

Comprehensive Analysis of BrHMPs Reveals Potential Roles in Abiotic Stress Tolerance and Pollen–Stigma Interaction in Brassica rapa

“…ROS is involved in pollen–stigma interactions [ 34 ], similar to the defense mechanism prompted by pathogenic bacterial invasion [ 35 ]. In B. rapa, there is increased ROS of the stigma after SI and lower ROS after CP [ 36 ].…”

“…In addition, inhibition of pollen germination and growth on the stigma by increased ROS was similar to the expression of the self-incompatibility response. Interestingly, the process of pollination is similar to the defense mechanism induced by pathogenic bacteria invasion [ 35 ]. The cell wall will form defensive appositions called papillae when pathogens invade [ 65 ].…”

Actors of ROS Homeostasis in Stigmatic Cells Essential for Plant Reproduction

“…Detailed procedure is described in the original article [5]. Briefly, using two transgenic Arabidopsis lines with restored SI response [6], we performed a time-course experiment of pollination and sequenced mRNAs extracted from stigmas harvested immediately (zero time point, C0), 10 or 60 minutes after pollen addition.…”

Exploration of incompatible crosses in plants for novel and useful variations

“…Whole transcriptome analysis using a complete set of RNA transcripts of the genome are produced using high‐throughput methods like microarray analysis and next generation‐sequencing. Transcriptional reprogramming was reported as early as at the time of pollination with unanticipated transcriptional activity triggered in stigma upon incompatible pollination, which was analysed based on SNP‐based RNA‐seq analysis coupled with the statistical methodology ASE‐TIGAR, to distinguish dynamic transcriptional changes occurring both in pollen and stigma following compatible and incompatible pollinations in Arabidopsis thaliana (Kodera et al, 2021). Expression of many genes was altered in MU1 compared with 'Z12' (female parent), and the genes whose expression was affected belonged to different signal transduction pathways and cellular biosynthetic processes (Meng et al, 2020).…”