Institute of Experimental Botany, v. v. i.

Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

Rozvojová 263, 165 02 Prague 6

Czech Republic

Seminar

Where: B1-Library

When: 11.9. 2017, 13:00

Ravi Palanivelu

School of Plant Sciences,

University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona

(http://cals.arizona.edu/research/ravilab/)

„Closing the deal: Arabidopsis LORELEI is required for pollen tube reception by the female gametophyte”

Double fertilization, uniquely observed in plants, requires successful sperm cell delivery by the male gametophyte (pollen tube) to the female gametophyte (embryo sac), followed by migration, recognition and fusion of the two sperm cells with two female gametic cells. The female gametophyte regulates these steps that culminate in double fertilization. Yet, very little is known about the female gametophyte-expressed genes that regulate these essential events during plant reproduction. In a screen for genes critical for reproduction, we isolated a null allele of LORELEI, which encodes a putative glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored protein and implicated it in inducing pollen tubes to arrest growth in the female gametophyte prior to releasing the sperm cells. I will provide an update on a variety of molecular, genetic, and cell biological approaches that were used to understand the role of LORELEI in inducing pollen tube reception, a very important signaling step that is also a critical pre-zygotic barrier in inter-specific crosses. These studies will address a long-standing but poorly understood essential question in plant reproductive biology: how the female gametophyte controls double fertilization.

Contact: Dr. David Honys

Tel.: +420-225 106 450

e-mail: honys@ueb.cas.cz