Abstract
In the evolutionarily advanced angiosperm flower, postgenital fusion is often involved in the formation of the female reproductive organ, the gynoecium. In the present study, we report on the early establishment of a cytoplasmic cell-to-cell communication pathway between the two fusing carpel primordia in Catharanthus roseus L. (periwinkle). Upon carpel contact, diffusible factors move between the two carpels to initiate the rapid redifferentiation of epidermal cells into parenchymatous cells, resulting in carpel fusion. Microinjection of the lipid-impermeable molecule, Lucifer Yellow CH (LYCH), into cells on either side of the epidermal fusion plane revealed that cytoplasmic continuity was established very early in this redifferentiation process. Electron-microscopic analysis confirmed that this inter-carpel cytoplasmic coupling was established by the formation of plasmodesmata produced between the contacting epidermal cells. The evolution of and role for this inter-carpel communication pathway is discussed in terms of the coordinate development of the gynoecium and its overall effect on reproductive fitness.
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Abbreviations
- LYCH:
-
Lucifer Yellow CH
References
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We thank Jim Haudenshield for assistance with the Hamamatsu imaging studies, and members of our laboratories for helpful discussions and critical readings of the manuscript. C. Van der Schoot was on paid leave of absence from ATO-DLO. These studies were supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant (DCB-90-05722) to W.J. Lucas and an NSF grant (DCB-91-05964) to J.A. Verbeke.
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van der Schoot, C., Dietrich, M.A., Storms, M. et al. Establishment of a cell-to-cell communication pathway between separate carpels during gynoecium development. Planta 195, 450–455 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00202604
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00202604