Plant sexual reproduction requires a broad array of molecular mechanisms to proceed successfully. Some of these mechanisms are well-studied, but our knowledge of them as a whole is fundamentally incomplete. Pollen tube growth is a key part of this process, facilitating the delivery of the sperm cells to the female...
The transition of mature pollen to the progamic phase represents an important step in the regulation of plant sexual reproduction. The progamic phase encompasses the initiation of pollen tube germination, growth of the pollen tube through the stigma (the silk in maize) and concludes with fertilization of the female gametophyte....
ROP GTPases are crucial regulators of pollen tube growth. The Rop GTPase family in maize consists of nine known rop genes, ropl-rop9. A subset of these genes (rop2, rop8, and rop9) are expressed in pollen. The rop2 and rop9 genes are a highly conserved duplicate gene pair of ancient origin....
Plants develop a vast array of cell shapes and sizes by selectively modifying their surrounding cell walls to expand in some regions and not in others. This process of morphogenesis requires the delivery of secretory vesicles to specific locations at the cell periphery, where exocytosis adds new membrane and proteins...
Pollen, the male product of the flower, is a crucial component in plant reproduction, as it transmits the sperm cells to the female structures, enabling fertilization and subsequent seed production. A major transition of the pollen life cycle, triggered upon pollination of female floral tissue, is from a dormant pollen...
Gene expression in plants (and other eukaryotes) is a very complex process. Gene expression is primarily controlled by proteins and their binding sites near the gene in the chromosomal DNA. More specifically, interactions among transcription factors (DNA-binding proteins) and cis-regulatory modules (CRMs-sets of binding sites) control the expression of nearby...
GRMZM2G372877 was identified as a gene with potential function in the male gametophyte based on its strong expression in mature pollen relative to other maize tissues (Chettoor et al. 2014). Identification of a Ds insertion mutation in this gene from the Brutnell/Vollbrecht collection provided further support for this hypothesis, as...
The overall objective of this research was to determine which, if any, myosin XI proteins and exocyst proteins play a role in growth of Arabidopsis thaliana hypocotyls and root hairs. This involved the study of whether exocyst and myosin proteins work together during cell expansion within these two plant parts....
Regulation of cell division and expansion are critical for plant development. The mechanisms that control these processes are not clearly understood in higher plants. In other eukaryotic models it has been shown that the highly conserved Rho family GTPases play a crucial role in these mechanisms. One distinct subset of...
Tension relationships were determined in steel cable passed through a stump notch and anchored to another object. Tensions were measured in the cable coming into and leaving the notch with one full wrap on the stump. Data was collected from two sites with two test stumps (15.7 to 37.5 inches...
