JXB Advance Access originally published online on February 13, 2008
Journal of Experimental Botany 2008 59(4):803-814; doi:10.1093/jxb/erm358
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© 2008 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This paper is available online free of all access charges (see http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/open_access.html for further details)
RESEARCH PAPER |
Regeneration of zygotic-like microspore-derived embryos suggests an important role for the suspensor in early embryo patterning
1Plant Research International, Wageningen University and Research Centre, PO Box 16, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
2Laboratory for Plant Cell Biology, Wageningen University and Research Centre, Arboretumlaan 4, 6703 BD Wageningen, The Netherlands
3Molecular and Developmental Genetics, Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Wassenaarseweg 64, 2333 AL Leiden, The Netherlands
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jan.custers{at}wur.nl
The inaccessibility of the zygote and proembryos of angiosperms within the surrounding maternal and filial tissues has hampered studies on early plant embryogenesis. Somatic and gametophytic embryo cultures are often used as alternative systems for molecular and biochemical studies on early embryogenesis, but are not widely used in developmental studies due to differences in the early cell division patterns with seed embryos. A new Brassica napus microspore embryo culture system, wherein embryogenesis highly mimics zygotic embryo development, is reported here. In this new system, the donor microspore first divides transversely to form a filamentous structure, from which the distal cell forms the embryo proper, while the lower part resembles the suspensor. In conventional microspore embryogenesis, the microspore divides randomly to form an embryonic mass that after a while establishes a protoderm and subsequently shows delayed histodifferentiation. In contrast, the embryo proper of filament-bearing microspore-derived embryos undergoes the same ordered pattern of cell division and early histodifferentiation as in the zygotic embryo. This observation suggests an important role for the suspensor in early zygotic embryo patterning and histodifferentiation. This is the first in vitro system wherein single differentiated cells in culture can efficiently regenerate embryos that are morphologically comparable to zygotic embryos. The system provides a powerful in vitro tool for studying the diverse developmental processes that take place during the early stages of plant embryogenesis.
Key words: Brassica napus, microspore embryogenesis, pattern formation, polarity, suspensor, zygotic embryogenesis
* Present address: Research Center for Biotechnology, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), PO Box 1, Bogor 16610, Indonesia.
Present address: Indonesian Ornamental Crop Research Institute (IOCRI), Jl. Raya Ciherang Segunung, Pacet Cianjur, Indonesia.
Present address: Institute of Plant Physiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Niezapominajek 21, 30-239 Kraków, Poland.
Received 23 July 2007; Revised 13 December 2007 Accepted 17 December 2007
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