The persistence and lignin-like appearance of the primary cell wall of microsporocytes in male-sterile (CMS) sweet pepper,Capsicum annuum L

Using differential staining of cell walls the anatomy of microsporogenesis was investigated on cross-sections of anthers of fertile plants of the sweet pepperCapsicum annuum L. cv. Severka, as well as of its sterile analogues. The lignin-like staining as observed in the microsporocyte primary walls of fertile plants disappears with their getting independent in the course of meiosis. On the contrary, in sterile plants the stain increases in intensity, the thick-walled microsporocytes usually form a continuous block up to the period of tetradogenesis, and so far as microspores originate, they are not dissociated outwards. Moreover, in sterile anthers the external tapetum is usually not differentiated.