Pollen grains represent the highly reduced haploid male gametophyte generation in angiosperms. They play an essential role in plant fertility by generating and delivering twin sperm cells to the embryo sac to undergo double fertilization. The functional specialization of the male gametophyte and double fertilization are considered to be key innovations in the evolutionary success of angiosperms. The haploid nature of the male gametophyte and its highly tractable ontogeny makes it an attractive system to study many fundamental biological processes, such as cell fate determination, cell-cycle progression and gene regulation. The present mini-review encompasses key advances in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms controlling male gametophyte patterning in angiosperms. A brief overview of male gametophyte development is presented, followed by a discussion of the genes required at landmark events of male gametogenesis. The value of the male gametophyte as an experimental system to study the interplay between cell fate determination and cell-cycle progression is also discussed and exemplified with an emerging model outlining the regulatory networks that distinguish the fate of the male germline from its sister vegetative cell. We conclude with a perspective of the impact emerging data will have on future research strategies and how they will develop further our understanding of male gametogenesis and plant development.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
April 2010
-
Cover Image
Cover Image
- PDF Icon PDF LinkFront Matter
- PDF Icon PDF LinkTable of Contents
Conference Article|
March 22 2010
Life after meiosis: patterning the angiosperm male gametophyte
Michael Borg;
Michael Borg
1
1Department of Biology, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, U.K.
1To whom correspondence should be addressed (email [email protected]).
Search for other works by this author on:
David Twell
David Twell
1Department of Biology, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, U.K.
Search for other works by this author on:
Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
August 21 2009
Online ISSN: 1470-8752
Print ISSN: 0300-5127
© The Authors Journal compilation © 2010 Biochemical Society
2010
Biochem Soc Trans (2010) 38 (2): 577–582.
Article history
Received:
August 21 2009
Citation
Michael Borg, David Twell; Life after meiosis: patterning the angiosperm male gametophyte. Biochem Soc Trans 1 April 2010; 38 (2): 577–582. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/BST0380577
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Sign in to your personal account
You could not be signed in. Please check your email address / username and password and try again.
Could not validate captcha. Please try again.