Skip to main content
ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Plant Gene Expression Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #182074
Title: IS THERE MORE THAN ONE WAY TO ATTRACT A POLLEN TUBE?

Author
item McCormick, Sheila
item YANG, HEPING - ARS-UCB PLNT GENE EXPR CT

Submitted to: Trends in Plant Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/30/2005
Publication Date: 6/1/2005
Citation: McCormick, S., Yang, H. 2005. Is there more than one way to attract a pollen tube? Trends in Plant Science. 10(6):260-263.

Interpretive Summary: In this article we discuss the published work of Marton, et al. They identified a protein called ZmEA1 (Zea mays egg apparatus1) that they think is necessary to attract pollen tubes. We show that similar proteins exist in a variety of plant tissues, not only in the embryo sac, suggesting a broader role for EA1-like proteins.

Technical Abstract: ZmEA1 (Zea mays egg apparatus 1) is expressed only in the egg and synergid cells. Embryo sacs with presumed reduced expression of ZmEA1 fail to attract pollen tubes. Together with data from Arabidopsis mutants and from elegant laser ablation experiments in Torenia fournieri, these results indicate that embryo sacs send signals to the incoming pollen tubes. We need to decipher how such signals are perceived and determine if the signals are species-specific.