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A functional study of stylar hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins during pollen tube growth

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Abstract

Class III pistil-specific extensin-like proteins (PELPIII) are chimeric hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins with properties of both extensins and arabinogalactan proteins. The abundance and specific localization of PELPIII in the intercellular matrix (IM) of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) stylar transmitting tissue, and translocation of PELPIII from the IM into the pollen tube wall after pollination, presume the biological function of these glycoproteins to be related to plant reproduction. Here we show that in in vitro assays the translocation of PELPIII is specifically directed to the callose inner wall of the pollen tubes, indicating that protein transfer is not dependent on the physiological conditions of the transmitting tract. We designed a set of experiments to elucidate the biological function of PELPIII in the stylar IM. To study the function of the specific interaction between PELPIII proteins and the pollen tube wall, one of the PELPIII proteins (MG15) was ectopically expressed in pollen tubes and targeted to the tube wall. We also generated transgenic tobacco plants in which PELPIII proteins were silenced. In vitro bioassays were performed to test the influence of purified PELPIII on pollen tube growth, as compared to tobacco transmitting tissue-specific proteins (TTS) that were previously shown to stimulate pollen tube growth. The various tests described for activity of PELPIII proteins all gave consistent and mutually affirmative results: the biological function of PELPIII proteins is not directly related to pollen tube growth. These data show that similar stylar glycoproteins may act very differently on pollen tubes.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully thank Alice Cheung and colleagues of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts, for providing facilities and hospitality for the pollen tube growth assays. Bruce McClure is thanked for the gift of the 120 kDa-antibody.

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  1. Maurice Bosch

    Present address: Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts, 611 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Experimental Plant Sciences, Department of Experimental Botany, University of Nijmegen, Toernooiveld 1, 6525 ED , Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Maurice Bosch, Jan Derksen & Celestina Mariani

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  1. Maurice Bosch
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Correspondence to Maurice Bosch.

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Bosch, M., Derksen, J. & Mariani, C. A functional study of stylar hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins during pollen tube growth. Sex Plant Reprod 16, 87–98 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00497-003-0179-3

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