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Open Access
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Article
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Histone H2B.8 compacts flowering plant sperm through chromatin phase separation
H2B.8 is identified as a histone variant that mediates a newly described mechanism of transcription-compatible chromatin condensation in flowering plant sperm cells.
- Toby Buttress
- , Shengbo He
- & Xiaoqi Feng
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Article |
A receptor–channel trio conducts Ca2+ signalling for pollen tube reception
The molecular mechanism by which FERONIA, LORELEI and NORTIA work together to facilitate calcium-mediated synergid–pollen tube communication in flowering plants is presented.
- Qifei Gao
- , Chao Wang
- & Sheng Luan
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Article |
Fertilized egg cells secrete endopeptidases to avoid polytubey
Fertilized Arabidopsis egg cells secrete endopeptidases into the extracellular space that cleave the pollen tube attractor LURE1, preventing polytubey.
- Xiaobo Yu
- , Xuecheng Zhang
- & Meng-xiang Sun
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Article |
FERONIA controls pectin- and nitric oxide-mediated male–female interaction
FERONIA prevents polyspermy in Arabidopsis by enabling pectin-stimulated nitric oxide accumulation at the filiform apparatus after the first pollen tube arrives, which disengages LURE1 chemoattraction to prevent late-arriving pollen tubes from entering the ovule.
- Qiaohong Duan
- , Ming-Che James Liu
- & Alice Y. Cheung
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Letter |
A male-expressed rice embryogenic trigger redirected for asexual propagation through seeds
Misexpression of the sperm-cell-expressed transcription factor BABY BOOM1 in the rice egg cell induces embryo development without fertilization, establishing the feasibility of asexual reproduction in crops and potentially enabling the clonal propagation of hybrids through seeds.
- Imtiyaz Khanday
- , Debra Skinner
- & Venkatesan Sundaresan
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Letter |
GLUTAMATE RECEPTOR-LIKE channels are essential for chemotaxis and reproduction in mosses
Mutations in genes that encode GLUTAMTATE RECEPTOR-LIKE (GLR) channels in the moss Physcomitrella patens result in failure of motile sperm to target the female reproductive organs and of zygotes to develop properly.
- Carlos Ortiz-Ramírez
- , Erwan Michard
- & José A. Feijó
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Letter |
MATRILINEAL, a sperm-specific phospholipase, triggers maize haploid induction
A frame-shift mutation in MATRILINEAL, a pollen-specific phospholipase, triggers haploid induction in maize, which may be useful in developing improved haploid induction systems for crop breeding.
- Timothy Kelliher
- , Dakota Starr
- & Barry Martin
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Review Article |
Safeguarding pollinators and their values to human well-being
Wild and managed pollinators are threatened by pressures such as environmental changes and pesticides, leading to risks for pollinator-dependent crop production, meaning more research and better policies are needed to safeguard pollinators and their services.
- Simon G. Potts
- , Vera Imperatriz-Fonseca
- & Adam J. Vanbergen
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Letter |
Tip-localized receptors control pollen tube growth and LURE sensing in Arabidopsis
Pollen-specific receptor-like kinase 6 (PRK6), which signals through the guanine nucleotide-exchange factors ROPGEFs, is required for sensing of the LURE1 attractant peptide in Arabidopsis thaliana, and functions together with other PRK family kinases; when introduced into the pollen tubes of the related species Capsella rubella, PRK6 could confer responsiveness to AtLURE1.
- Hidenori Takeuchi
- & Tetsuya Higashiyama
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Letter |
A receptor heteromer mediates the male perception of female attractants in plants
A male cell-surface receptor-like kinase that responds to the female chemoattractant LURE1 on the pollen tube of Arabidopsis thaliana is identified; LURE1 triggers dimerization of the receptor components and activation of the kinase activity, and the transformation of a component of the A. thaliana receptor to the Capsella rubella species partially breaks down the reproductive isolation barrier.
- Tong Wang
- , Liang Liang
- & Wei-Cai Yang
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Letter |
Temperature-dependent regulation of flowering by antagonistic FLM variants
Temperature-dependent alternative splicing of FLOWERING LOCUS M (FLM) results in two protein products, FLM-β and FLM-δ, that regulate the onset of flowering in Arabidopsis; at cooler temperatures FLM-β represses flowering, whereas at higher temperatures, the plant preferentially produces FLM-δ, which promotes flowering.
- David Posé
- , Leonie Verhage
- & Markus Schmid
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Research Highlights |
Plant fertilization protein found
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Letter |
Sex-specific volatile compounds influence microarthropod-mediated fertilization of moss
Volatile scents of moss Ceratodon purpureus show sex-specific differences and are similar in chemical diversity to those of plant–insect pollination mutualisms; and moss-dwelling microarthropods, whose presence increases C. purpureus fertilization rates, prefer scents of reproductive female C. purpureus to reproductive males, indicating a scent-based ‘plant–pollinator-like’ relationship between mosses and microarthropods.
- Todd N. Rosenstiel
- , Erin E. Shortlidge
- & Sarah M. Eppley
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Letter
| Open Access
The tomato genome sequence provides insights into fleshy fruit evolution
This paper reports the genome sequence of domesticated tomato, a major crop plant, and a draft sequence for its closest wild relative; comparative genomics reveal very little divergence between the two genomes but some important differences with the potato genome, another important food crop in the genus Solanum.
- Shusei Sato
- , Satoshi Tabata
- & René M. Klein Lankhorst
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Letter |
Transcription factor PIF4 controls the thermosensory activation of flowering
A novel mechanism by which warming temperatures can directly activate flowering in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.
- S. Vinod Kumar
- , Doris Lucyshyn
- & Philip A. Wigge
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News Feature |
The pollinator crisis: What's best for bees
Pollinating insects are in crisis. Understanding bees' relationships with introduced species could help.
- Sharon Levy
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Letter |
Control of flowering and storage organ formation in potato by FLOWERING LOCUS T
- Cristina Navarro
- , José A. Abelenda
- & Salomé Prat
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Research Highlights |
Pollination drives floral clock
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Research Highlights |
A leaf that's loud and proud
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Letter |
14-3-3 proteins act as intracellular receptors for rice Hd3a florigen
- Ken-ichiro Taoka
- , Izuru Ohki
- & Ko Shimamoto
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Letter |
A Polycomb-based switch underlying quantitative epigenetic memory
- Andrew Angel
- , Jie Song
- & Martin Howard
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News |
Fruit-feasting fish fertilize faraway forests
Fish travelling through flood waters disperse seeds.
- Daniel Cressey
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Research Highlights |
More sneezing in a warmer world
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News |
Plants flowering later on the Tibetan Plateau
Shorter growing season linked to warmer winters on 'the roof of the world'.
- Hannah Hoag
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Research Highlights |
Botany: Crazy for you, daisy
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Research Highlights |
Plant biology: Seeking enlightenment
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Letter |
Evolution of self-compatibility in Arabidopsis by a mutation in the male specificity gene
Self-fertilisation (selfing) in plants is prevented mainly by the self-incompatibility recognition system, which consists of male and female specificity genes and modifier genes. Selfing does occur in Arabidopsis plants, but it is not known how it arose. Here it is reported that selfing in Arabidopsis results from a geographically widespread, 213-base-pair inversion within the male specificity gene. When this inversion is returned to its original orientation, selfing is prevented once more.
- Takashi Tsuchimatsu
- , Keita Suwabe
- & Kentaro K. Shimizu
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Letter |
Control of female gamete formation by a small RNA pathway in Arabidopsis
Female gametes in flowering plants develop from a meiotic division of a precursor cell followed by mitotic divisions of one of the resulting haploid cells to yield the gametophyte. Here, ARGONAUTE 9 (AGO9) — a protein involved in RNA interference — is identified as a factor required for specification of the gametophyte. AGO9 is found not in the cell destined to be the gametophyte, but in the neighbouring companion cells, suggesting that it functions in a non-cell-autonomous manner.
- Vianey Olmedo-Monfil
- , Noé Durán-Figueroa
- & Jean-Philippe Vielle-Calzada
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Research Highlights |
Climate change: Warming boosts invasions
Stigma receptors control intraspecies and interspecies barriers in Brassicaceae