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JXB Advance Access published online on November 27, 2008
Journal of Experimental Botany, doi:10.1093/jxb/ern295
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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

The polygalacturonase gene BcMF2 from Brassica campestris is associated with intine development

Li Huang, Jiashu Cao*, Aihong Zhang, Yiqun Ye, Yuchao Zhang and Tingting Liu

Laboratory of Cell & Molecular Biology, Institute of Vegetable Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310029, China

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jshcao{at}zju.edu.cn

Brassica campestris Male Fertility 2 (BcMF2) is a putative polygalacturonase (PG) gene previously isolated from the flower bud of Chinese cabbage (Brassica campestris L. ssp. chinensis Makino, syn. B. rapa ssp. chinensis). This gene was found to be expressed specifically in tapetum and pollen after the tetrad stage of anther development. Antisense RNA technology was used to study the function of BcMF2 in Chinese cabbage. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy revealed that there were deformities in the transgenic mature pollen grains such as abnormal location of germinal furrows. In addition, the homogeneous pectic exintine layer facing the exterior seemed to be overdeveloped and predominantly occupied the intine, thus reversing the normal proportional distribution of the internal endintine layer and the external exintine layer. Since it is a continuation of the intine layer, the pollen tube wall could not grow normally. This resulted in the formation of a balloon-like swelling structure in the pollen tube tip in nearly 80% of the transgenic pollen grains. Premature degradation of tapetum was also found in these transgenic plants, which displayed decreased expression of the BcMF2 gene. BcMF2 might therefore encode a new PG with an important role in pollen wall development, possibly via regulation of pectin's dynamic metabolism.

Key words: Brassica campestris, Brassica rapa, Chinese cabbage, intine, PG, polygalacturonase, pollen wall

Received 28 August 2008; Revised 14 October 2008 Accepted 20 October 2008


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L. Huang, Y. Ye, Y. Zhang, A. Zhang, T. Liu, and J. Cao
BcMF9, a novel polygalacturonase gene, is required for both Brassica campestris intine and exine formation
Ann. Bot., December 1, 2009; 104(7): 1339 - 1351.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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