Abstract
The role of microtubules and endomembranes in pollen wall pattern formation in Vigna vexillata L. was examined using fluorescence laser scanning confocal microscopy. Indirect immunofluorescence using anti-β-tubulin antibodies revealed that the arrangement of the cortical microtubular cytoskeleton in microspores resembled the reciprocal of the reticulate ektexine ornamentations of mature V. vexillata pollen. Patches of microtubules in cortical cytoplasm corresponded in location with the lumina of the exine reticulum and with apertural sites. Microtubules were absent from cytoplasm under muri (ridges) of the exine reticulum. Labeling of microspores during the mid-tetrad stage with the endomembrane-specific fluorochrome DiOC6 produced a pattern similar to that of the microtubules; i.e., DiOC6 staining was localized in cytoplasm underlying lumina and absent from cortical cytoplasm underlying sites of muri. This report represents the first observation of congruence of the pattern of occurrence of any subcellular organelles with exine pattern and, in particular, the congruence of both microtubules and endomembranes in cortical cytoplasm with the lumina of the reticulate exine.
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Muñoz, C.A.P., Webster, B.D. & Jernstedt, J.A. Spatial congruence between exine pattern, microtubules and endomembranes in Vigna pollen. Sexual Plant Reprod 8, 147–151 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00242259
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00242259