Abstract
Self-incompatibility (SI) in Papaver rhoeas is accompanied by a cascade of signalling events that result in the rapid arrest and eventual death of the pollen tube. We have used rapid freeze fixation, freeze substitution and transmission electron microscopy to provide the first description of changes to pollen at the ultrastructural level during SI in this species. Our studies reveal that dramatic alterations to the morphology of mitochondria, Golgi bodies and ER occur within 1 h of SI induction. Similar symptoms have also been observed during programmed cell death (PCD) in some cell types. These include: the conspicuous condensation of the vegetative and generative nuclei, the swelling and loss of cristae in mitochondria and the disappearance of Golgi bodies. Some of the early alterations to the mitochondria and Golgi bodies observed at 1 h, almost certainly occur when cells are still alive. Other events, such as nuclear condensation, occur later and coincide with DNA fragmentation and the loss of cell viability. Our observations suggest that the SI response in P. rhoeas pollen may potentially involve a type of PCD.
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Abbreviations
- ER:
-
endoplasmic reticulum
- GM:
-
growth medium
- HR:
-
hypersensitive response
- MAPK:
-
mitogen-activated protein kinase
- PCD:
-
programmed cell death
- SI:
-
self-incompatibility
- TEM:
-
transmission electron microscopy
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Acknowledgements
We thank Norbert de Ruijter and Adriaan van Aelst for help with technical questions. Funding was provided by a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship from the European Union as well as grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Fonds Québecois de la Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies (FQRNT) to AG.
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Geitmann, A., Franklin-Tong, V. & Emons, A. The self-incompatibility response in Papaver rhoeas pollen causes early and striking alterations to organelles. Cell Death Differ 11, 812–822 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.cdd.4401424
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.cdd.4401424
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