Metabolic adaption of pollen grains and tubes to drought

06.06.2017

ViMe collaborates with Gerhard Obermeyer to answer the question how pollen tubes survive drought stress during their journey through the pistil.

A successful fertilisation in plants guarantees the production and high crop yield for human food, e.g. seeds and fruits but also bread, beer and beef! Drought periods inhibit this process and thus dramatically reduce crop yields.
In this project, molecular mechanisms are investigated that enable the pollen to adapt to drought stress conditions adjusting its metabolism to continue its growth to the ovule. The project is financed by the FWF (P29626)

Project summary: http://pf.fwf.ac.at/project_pdfs/pdf_abstracts/p29626e.pdf
Website of Gerhard Obermeyer (Molecular Plant Biophysics, and Biochemistry Lab, Univ. Salzburg) : www.uni-salzburg.at/mpbb

Papillar cells on the Arabidopsis stigma provide pollen grains (arrow) with water for their growth to the ovule