Emergence and patterning of the five cell types of the Zea mays anther locule.

ABSTRACT: One fundamental difference between plants and animals is the existence of a germ-line in animals and its absence in plants. In flowering plants, the sexual organs (stamens and carpels) are composed almost entirely of somatic cells, a small subset of which switch to meiosis; however, the mechanism of meiotic cell fate acquisition is a long-standing botanical mystery. In the maize (Zea mays) anther microsporangium, the somatic tissues consist of four concentric cell layers that surround and support reproductive cells as they progress through meiosis and pollen maturation. Male sterility, defined as the absence of viable pollen, is a common phenotype in flowering plants, and many male sterile mutants have defects in somatic and reproductive cell fate acquisition. However, without a robust mod

SUBMITTER: Kelliher T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3024885 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature