Pollen germination on the surface of compatible stigmatic tissues is an essential step for plant fertilization. Here we report that the Arabidopsis mutant bcll is male sterile as a result of the failure ofpollen germi...Pollen germination on the surface of compatible stigmatic tissues is an essential step for plant fertilization. Here we report that the Arabidopsis mutant bcll is male sterile as a result of the failure ofpollen germination. We show that the bcll mutant allele cannot be transmitted by male gametophytes and no homozygous bcll mutants were obtained. Analysis of pollen developmental stages indicates that the bcll mutation affects pollen germination but not pollen maturation. Molecular analysis demonstrates that the failure of pollen germination was caused by the disruption of AtBECLIN 1. AtBECLIN 1 is expressed predominantly in mature pollen and encodes a protein with significant homology to Beclin1/Atg6/Vps30 required for the processes of autophagy and vacuolar protein sorting （VPS） in yeast. We also show that AtBECLIN 1 is required for normal plant development, and that genes related to autophagy, VPS and the glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor system, were affected by the deficiency of AtBECLIN 1.展开更多
基金The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.30470172 and 30221120261)the National Special Projects for R&D of Transgenic Plants(J99-A-001).
文摘Pollen germination on the surface of compatible stigmatic tissues is an essential step for plant fertilization. Here we report that the Arabidopsis mutant bcll is male sterile as a result of the failure ofpollen germination. We show that the bcll mutant allele cannot be transmitted by male gametophytes and no homozygous bcll mutants were obtained. Analysis of pollen developmental stages indicates that the bcll mutation affects pollen germination but not pollen maturation. Molecular analysis demonstrates that the failure of pollen germination was caused by the disruption of AtBECLIN 1. AtBECLIN 1 is expressed predominantly in mature pollen and encodes a protein with significant homology to Beclin1/Atg6/Vps30 required for the processes of autophagy and vacuolar protein sorting （VPS） in yeast. We also show that AtBECLIN 1 is required for normal plant development, and that genes related to autophagy, VPS and the glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor system, were affected by the deficiency of AtBECLIN 1.
