Rapid elimination of the persistent synergid through a cell fusion mechanism

Daisuke Maruyama, Ronny Völz, Hidenori Takeuchi, Toshiyuki Mori, Tomoko Igawa, Daisuke Kurihara, Tomokazu Kawashima, Minako Ueda, Masaki Ito, Masaaki Umeda, Shuh Ichi Nishikawa, Rita Groß-Hardt, Tetsuya Higashiyama

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

91 Scopus citations

Abstract

In flowering plants, fertilization-dependent degeneration of the persistent synergid cell ensures one-on-one pairings of male and female gametes. Here, we report that the fusion of the persistent synergid cell and the endosperm selectively inactivates the persistent synergid cell in Arabidopsis thaliana. The synergid-endosperm fusion causes rapid dilution of pre-secreted pollen tube attractant in the persistent synergid cell and selective disorganization of the synergid nucleus during the endosperm proliferation, preventing attractions of excess number of pollen tubes (polytubey). The synergid-endosperm fusion is induced by fertilization of the central cell, while the egg cell fertilization predominantly activates ethylene signaling, an inducer of the synergid nuclear disorganization. Therefore, two female gametes (the egg and the central cell) control independent pathways yet coordinately accomplish the elimination of the persistent synergid cell by double fertilization.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)907-918
Number of pages12
JournalCell
Volume161
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - May 7 2015

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank T. Kinoshita, S. McCormick, F. Berger, G.N. Drews, and T. Nakagawa for the materials, N. Iwata, T. Nishii, and T.M. Vu for assistance in preparing materials, S. Tiedemann for genetic analysis, and A. Schnittger for discussions. F. Berger also provided useful comments on the manuscript. D.M. was supported by the Global Center of Excellence program ( Nagoya University ). D.M. and H.T. were supported by grants 6526 and 5834 from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowships , respectively. This work was supported in part by Japan Advanced Plant Science Network and by a grant from the Japan Science and Technology Agency (ERATO project to T.H.).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Inc.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (all)

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