ibclogo XVI International Botanical Congess


Abstract Number: 3411
Session = 12.13.7


MUTATION OF THE STUD GENE LEADS TO A FAILURE OF CYTOKINESIS FOLLOWING MALE MEIOSIS IN ARABIDOPSIS


Robert E. Pruitt, Dept. of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA


Plants which are homozygous for mutant alleles of the STUD gene fail to undergo cytokinesis following male meiosis leading to the production of tetranuclear microspores. Similar mutations have been described in other plant species, some in the early part of this century. Interestingly, although the primary defect in all of these mutations appears to be similar, the developmental fate of the microspore varies from species to species. In Arabidopsis the tetranuclear microspore follows a relatively normal developmental path to produce a pollen grain which is capable of growing a pollen tube and delivering sperm cells to the embryo sac. Most of the developing seeds arising from stud mutant fathers abort however, leading to a high degree of paternal effect sterility.


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