Abstract
Within the first 2 h of sexual reproduction, gametes of the green alga Chlamydomonas eugametos agglutinate, fuse via their mating structures, de-agglutinate and swim off as vis-à-vis pairs. During this period, increases in intracellular inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate levels and changes in polyphosphoinositide synthesis were associated with cell fusion. The protein-kinase-C inhibitor staurosporine (0.1–0.2 μM) inhibited the de-agglutination of pairs and therefore prevented them swimming away, while earlier stages of mating such as agglutination or cell fusion were unaffected. The results suggest that inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate and diacylglycerol are fertilization signals in C. eugametos. The idea that they could also be fertilization signals in higher plants is discussed in relation to in vitro embryogenesis.
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Abbreviations
- DAG:
-
diacylglycerol
- InsP3 :
-
inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate
- mt+/mt− :
-
mating-type plus or minus
- PKC:
-
protein kinase C
- PtdOH:
-
phosphatidic acid
- PtdInsP:
-
phosphatidylinositol
- 4-phosphate PtdInsP2 :
-
phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate
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Musgrave, A., Schuring, F., Munnik, T. et al. Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate as fertilization signal in plants: testcase Chlamydomonas eugametos . Planta 191, 280–284 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00199761
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00199761