2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Molecular mechanisms of gamete recognition and fusion in angiosperms
| Project Area | Elucidation of Common Mechanisms for Allogeneic Authentication in Animals and Plants |
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| Project/Area Number |
21112007
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (Research in a proposed research area)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Review Section |
Biological Sciences
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| Research Institution | Tokyo Metropolitan University |
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Principal Investigator |
OKAMOTO Takashi 首都大学東京, 理工学研究科, 准教授 (50285095)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2009-07-23 – 2014-03-31
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| Keywords | 卵細胞 / 精細胞 / 受精 / 植物 / 配偶子融合 / 核の合一 |
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| Research Abstract |
Investigations for elucidating the mechanisms in plant reproduction and development, including how the egg cell is specialized, fuses with the sperm cell, and converts into an active zygote, were conducted. Cell-type-specific transcriptomes and proteomes were obtained using rice gametes and zygotes, and several rice or Arabidopsis lines with mutations in genes identified by present analyses showed clear phenotypic defects in seed set or seed development. The conversion of an egg cell into a zygote involves two sequential gametic processes, plasmogamy and karyogamy. The nuclei and nuclear membranes of rice gametes were fluorescently labeled, and such gametes were fused in vitro to observe karyogamy progression. Karyogamy was divided into eight stages, and paternal and de novo synthesized transcripts were separately detectable in zygotes. These results provide foundational information toward understanding the mechanisms of gametic and early zygotic development in angiosperms.
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