Tapetum plastids ofOlea europaea L.

Summary The plastid ontogenesis inOlea europaea tapetum has been studied. Tapetum plastids start their development as proplastids and differentiate into elaioplasts. At the end of their development the tapetal cells degenerate and are substituted by roundish lipidic masses which will later form an exine coating (Pollenkitt). During their ontogenesis the plastids are characteristically associated with membrane outlines of mostly smooth ER, which appear to be correlated with lipid accumulation inside the plastids.     

Gymnosperm B-sister genes may be involved in ovule/seed development and,in some species,in the growth of fleshy fruit-like structures

Background and Aims

The evolution of seeds together with the mechanisms related to their dispersal into the environment represented a turning point in the evolution of plants. Seeds are produced by gymnosperms and angiosperms but only the latter have an ovary to be transformed into a fruit. Yet some gymnosperms produce fleshy structures attractive to animals, thus behaving like fruits from a functional point of view. The aim of this work is to increase our knowledge of possible mechanisms common to the development of both gymnosperm and angiosperm fruits.

Methods

B-sister genes from two gymnosperms (Ginkgo biloba and Taxus baccata) were isolated and studied. The Ginkgo gene was also functionally characterized by ectopically expressing it in tobacco.

Key Results

In Ginkgo the fleshy structure derives from the outer seed integument and the B-sister gene is involved in its growth. In Taxus the fleshy structure is formed de novo as an outgrowth of the ovule peduncle, and the B-sister gene is not involved in this growth. In transgenic tobacco the Ginkgo gene has a positive role in tissue growth and confirms its importance in ovule/seed development.

Conclusions

This study suggests that B-sister genes have a main function in ovule/seed development and a subsidiary role in the formation of fleshy fruit-like structures when the latter have an ovular origin, as occurs in Ginkgo. Thus, the ‘fruit function’ of B-sister genes is quite old, already being present in Gymnosperms as ancient as Ginkgoales, and is also present in Angiosperms where a B-sister gene has been shown to be involved in the formation of the Arabidopsis fruit.     

Cotyledonal chloroplasts in the hypogeal seeds of clementine

Clementine (Citrus nobilisxCitrus aurantium amara pumila) is a chloroembryophyte with green quiescent embryos and hypogeal germination. The cotyledonal chloroplasts have been studied during germination in the dark and under two different irradiances 120 and 240 mol·m^-2·s^-1 throughout a period of three weeks. The plastids of the outer adaxial and inner regions develop differently. In the light, the former differentiate a photosynthetically active thylakoid system with an ultrastructural organization and a polypeptide composition resembling that of leaf chloroplasts. The inner chloroplasts maintain an organization reminiscent of chloroplasts of the quiescent embryo and never get beyond the photosynthesis/respiration compensation point; their differentiation pattern appears essentially the same under the two different irradiances. These observations and the germination in the dark indicate that the above differentiation is not strictly photodependent. The greening ability of the cotyledons provides, on occasion, an additional photosynthetic supply to this plant.Abbreviations Chl a-P chlorophyll a-protein-complex - CF1 coupling factor complex - SDS-PAGE sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis     

A cell wall-oriented genomic approach reveals a new and unexpected complexity of the softening in peaches

During ripening, fleshy fruits undergo textural changes that lead to loss of tissue firmness and consequent softening. It is a common idea that this process is the consequence of cell wall dismantling carried out by different and orderly expressed enzymes. For this purpose, by using a single enzyme family approach many enzymes and related genes have been characterized in different fruits. In this work, the softening of the climacteric peach fruits (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch.) has been studied by using a genomic approach, and the results obtained are novel and partly unexpected. The genes analysed encode proteins involved in the main metabolic aspects of a primary cell wall: degradation, synthesis, structure. In addition, some genes encoding cell-wall-related proteins with an unknown function have been studied. The gene expression profiles show that the softening actually begins well before the climacteric rise and continues thereafter. Genes whose expression starts before the climacteric rise are mostly down-regulated by ethylene, while genes with a ripening-specific expression are mostly up-regulated by the hormone. A few other genes are apparently insensitive to ethylene. Besides the expected parietal degradation, the softening that results from this study also comprises some repairing of the cell wall performed by enzymes involved in the synthesis of parietal polysaccharides and, especially, by proteins with structural functions. The newly synthesized polysaccharides and the structural proteins would thus help to hold together the fruit cell wall while not preventing the softening.     

Etioplast-chloroplast transformation in maize leaves: Effects of tissue age and light intensity

Summary The effects of light intensity and cell age on the greening of etioplasts were studied in seedlings of maize.We could see that in the youngest tissues examined by us the etioplast greening is very fast and occurs according to a particular pattern which is characterized by the contemporary presence of grana and large non crystalline prolamellar bodies. On the contrary, in the oldest examined tissues the etioplast greening is slow and the formation of grana appears to be delayed and subsequent to the using up of the prolamellar bodies.In the young tissues the intensity of the light mainly affects the duration of the lag-phase preceding the chlorophyll accumulation, while in the old tissues it also affects the total amount of chlorophyllous pigments, the restraining effect of the light appearing amplified by a concomitant restraining effect of cell age.Supported by a grant of C.N.R.