Compatible interactions between male gametophytes (pollen) and the female reproductive organ (pistil) are essential for fertilization in flowering plants. Recognition at a molecular level allows “compatible” pollen grains to adhere/germinate on the stigma while pollen grains from unrelated plant species are largely ignored. The exocyst is a large eight subunit complex that is primarily involved in polarized secretion or regulated exocytosis in eukaryotic cells where it functions to tether vesicles to the plasma membrane. Recent research has implicated one of the Exo70 family members, Exo70A1, in compatible pollen-pistil interactions in Arabidopsis and Brassica. The loss of Exo70A1 in Arabidopsis Col-0 stigmas leads to the rejection of compatible pollen producing a “female sterile” phenotype. Through my research I have demonstrated that, driven by a stigma-specific promoter, an RFP:Exo70A1 fusion protein rescues this defect in exo70A1-1 mutant and Exo70A1 is found to be localized to the plasma membrane at flower opening.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/24273 |
| Date | 06 April 2010 |
| Creators | Haasen, Katrina Ellen |
| Contributors | Goring, Daphne |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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