Ultrastructural Study of Camellia Japonica Pollen Treated With Myrmicacin, an Ant‐origin Inhibitor

Abstract

The germination and tube growth of Camellia japonica pollen were stopped on a myrmicacincontaining (50–200 ppm) culture medium, but were restored again when the pollen grains were transferred to a myrmicacin‐free medium. Myrmicacin inhibits the movement of Golgi vesicles utilized for the formation of the callose layer in the pollen grain before the germination, and the growing tube tip wall.

Ant Inhibition of Pollen Function: A Possible Reason Why Ant Pollination Is Rare

“…It is an inhibitor of the growth and spore germination of a variety of bacteria and fungi (Schildknecht, 1976;Maschwitz, Koob and Schildknecht, 1970). Of even greater interest, a series oflaboratory experiments have shown that myrmicacin, applied in minute quantities to pollen cultures, inhibits pollen germination and retards pollen tube growth Iwadare, 1978, 1979;Iwanami et aI., 1979Iwanami et aI., , 1981Nakamura, Miki-Hirosige and Iwanami, 1982). Since pollen growth is disrupted when subjected to ant secretions in the lab, does it suffer a similar fate when exposed to living, intact ants?…”