Recent progress on sperm characterization in flowering plants |
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Authors: | S. D. Russell M. Cresti C. Dumas |
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Affiliation: | Dept of Botany and Microbiology, University of Oklahoma, Norman. OK 73019-0245 USA;Depart, di Biologie Ambientale, Universitádi Siena, I-53100 Siena, Italy;Laboratoire Reconnaissance Cellulaire et Amélioration des Plantes, Bá, 741, Univ. Claude Bernard-Lyon 1, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France. |
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Abstract: | The organization, isolation and physiology of the angiosperm male gamete has recently emerged as an area of special interest. Detailed in vivo studies have revealed: (1) that the functional unit of male reproduction is a'male germ unit,'composed of two sperm cells and a physically associated vegetative nucleus; (2) that the two sperm cells are often cytoplasmically dimorphic, and (3) that some sperm cells appear to undergo preferential fertilization, preferentially fusing with either the egg or the proendospermaric central cell. Male gamete isolation has provided enrichments of up to 107 cells ml–1, with sperm integrity and viability demonstrated by the flunrochromatic reaction and ATP levels. Although results from biochemical and hybridoma antibody characterization are still preliminary, they indicate that sperm cells possess polypeptide expression patterns that are different from those of surrounding cells. These findings suggest the existence of an independent developmental program in the angiosperm male gamete. |
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Keywords: | angiosperm embryogenesis cytoplasmic inheritance male germ unit sperm isolation (angiosperm) |
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