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Flores-Tornero M, Becker JD. 50 years of sperm cell isolations: from structural to omic studies. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2023:erad117. [PMID: 37025026 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erad117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2022] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
The fusion of male and female gametes is a fundamental process in the perpetuation and diversification of species. During the last 50 years, significant efforts have been made to isolate and characterize sperm cells from flowering plants, and to identify how these cells interact with female gametes to achieve double fertilization. The first techniques and analytical approaches not only provided structural and biochemical characterizations of plant sperm cells but also paved the way for in vitro fertilization studies. Further technological advances then led to unique insights into sperm biology at transcriptomic, proteomic and epigenetic level. Starting with a historical overview of sperm cell isolation techniques, we provide examples of how these contributed to create our current knowledge of sperm cell biology, and point out remaining challenges.
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Affiliation(s)
- María Flores-Tornero
- Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Av. da República, Oeiras, 2780-157 Portugal
| | - Jörg D Becker
- Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Av. da República, Oeiras, 2780-157 Portugal
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Toda E, Kiba T, Kato N, Okamoto T. Isolation of gametes and zygotes from Setaria viridis. JOURNAL OF PLANT RESEARCH 2022; 135:627-633. [PMID: 35534650 DOI: 10.1007/s10265-022-01393-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2022] [Accepted: 04/25/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Setaria viridis, the wild ancestor of foxtail millet (Setaria italica), is an effective model plant for larger C4 crops because S. viridis has several desirable traits, such as short generation time, prolific seed production and a small genome size. These advantages are well suited for investigating molecular mechanisms in angiosperms, especially C4 crop species. Here, we report a procedure for isolating gametes and zygotes from S. viridis flowers. To isolate egg cells, ovaries were harvested from unpollinated mature flowers and cut transversely, which allowed direct access to the embryo sac. Thereafter, an egg cell was released from the cut end of the basal portion of the dissected ovary. To isolate sperm cells, pollen grains released from anthers were immersed in a mannitol solution, resulting in pollen-grain bursting, which released sperm cells. Additionally, S. viridis zygotes were successfully isolated from freshly pollinated flowers. Isolated zygotes cultured in a liquid medium developed into globular-like embryos and cell masses. Thus, isolated S. viridis gametes, zygotes and embryos are attainable for detailed observations and investigations of fertilization and developmental events in angiosperms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erika Toda
- Plant Breeding Innovation Laboratory, RIKEN Cluster for Science, Technology and Innovation Hub, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 230-0045, Japan.
- Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 1-1 Minami-osawa, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0392, Japan.
- Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan.
| | - Takatoshi Kiba
- Plant Breeding Innovation Laboratory, RIKEN Cluster for Science, Technology and Innovation Hub, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 230-0045, Japan
- Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan
| | - Norio Kato
- Plant Breeding Innovation Laboratory, RIKEN Cluster for Science, Technology and Innovation Hub, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 230-0045, Japan
- Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 1-1 Minami-osawa, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0392, Japan
| | - Takashi Okamoto
- Plant Breeding Innovation Laboratory, RIKEN Cluster for Science, Technology and Innovation Hub, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 230-0045, Japan
- Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 1-1 Minami-osawa, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0392, Japan
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