Pollen structure and function in caesalpinioid legumes

Banks, Hannah; Rudall, Paula J.

doi:10.3732/ajb.1500248

Cited by 41 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 69 publications

(106 reference statements)

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“…Therefore, it seems evident that stigma shape and organization are highly associated with the type of pollination (Edlund et al, 2004). However, much greater effort has been expended on elucidating the relationship between pollen and pollination (e.g., Banks and Rudall, 2016;Hesse, 2000;Osborn et al, 1991) than between stigma and pollination (Heslop-Harrison, 1992). The study of the diversity of stigmata related to various types of pollination (Basso-Alves et al, 2011;Jousselin and Kjellberg, 2001) and breeding systems (Katinas et al, 2016;Lora et al, 2011) is thus of great interest in general and for obligate mutualisms such as between fig trees (Ficus) and their agaonid pollinating wasps in particular (Galil and Eisikowitch, 1968).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphological diversity and function of the stigma in Ficus species (Moraceae)

et al. 2018

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The stigma plays several roles such as pollen hydration and selection, and pollen tube nutrition. In the Ficus-fig wasp mutualism, stigmata have an additional, almost unknown, function by representing a physical interface for both plant and wasp reproduction. We used light and electron microscopy to compare the detailed morphology of the stigmata of nine Ficus species of different sections and with different pollination modes and sexual expressions. Figs were collected at the stage when the stigmata were receptive for pollination. Stigmata in actively pollinated monoecious species have well developed papillae concentrated on the adaxial surface exposed towards the fig cavity. Conversely, the passively pollinated monoecious species have the whole surface of the stigmata covered by somewhat smaller papillae. In both actively and passively pollinated monoecious species these features are consistent, irrespective of style length. In all actively pollinated gynodioecious species, the stigmata of pistillate flowers were tubular or infundibuliform whereas in almost all actively pollinated monoecious species (except F. racemosa) the stigmata were filiform, with one branch or two asymmetric branches. In gynodioecious species the short-styled flowers in "male" figs show a limited receptive surface with small papillae, while the stigmata of long-styled flowers in "female" figs are covered by papillae that extend down the sides of the style, increasing the stigmatic surface. In actively pollinated species, stigmata are cohesive, forming a common surface for pollen tube germination (= synstigma). The synstigma arrangement was quite variable: lax, cohesive or very cohesive, with entanglement by stigmatic papillae and stylar trichomes. Entanglement by stylar trichomes is common in gynodioecious species. The synstigma arrangement did not correlate with phylogeny or breeding system. This study is the first to report a very loose synstigma in actively pollinated monoecious Ficus species. Our analyses revealed that, in Ficus, the synstigma is functionally analogous to an extra-gynoecial compitum. Comparative studies will be required to test further hypotheses about the evolutionary determinants of such variation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphological diversity and function of the stigma in Ficus species (Moraceae)

et al. 2018

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“…Ferguson & Pearce (1986) described two patterns of morphological variation in pollen and found that apertures and exine stratification correlated with taxonomy, whereas ornamentation, pollen size and exine thickness showed a great deal of continuous variation and also examples of homoplasy. In many cases homoplasious morphological variation is correlated with floral morphology and pollination syndromes (e.g., supratectal gemmae and verrucae appeared to be correlated with bat pollination) (Ferguson & Pearce 1986) and has evolved iteratively in the tribes Cercideae and Detarieae (Banks & Rudall 2016).…”

Section: Proposal To Recognise Phanera Sect Corymbosae As a Distinctmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2B). However, similar types of verrucate ornamentation have previously been seen in taxa pollinated by butterflies, moths, birds or bats (Banks & Rudall 2016). Hao et al (2003) constructed a well resolved phylogeny of the subtribe Bauhiniinae (sensu Wunderlin 1979) in which 7 accessions were sampled that represented 5 species from sect.…”

Section: Proposal To Recognise Phanera Sect Corymbosae As a Distinctmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cheniella gen. nov. (Leguminosae: Cercidoideae) from southern China, Indochina and Malesia

Clark

Mackinder

Banks

2017

EJT

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Abstract. For much of the last thirty years, the caesalpinioid genus Bauhinia has been recognised by numerous authors as a broadly circumscribed, ecologically, morphologically and palynologically diverse pantropical taxon, comprising several subgenera. One of these, Bauhinia subg. Phanera has recently been reinstated at generic rank based on a synthesis of morphological and molecular data. Nevertheless, there remains considerable diversity within Phanera. Following a review of palynological and molecular studies of Phanera in conjunction with a careful re-examination of the morphological heterogeneity within the genus, we have found strong evidence that the species of Phanera subsect. Corymbosae are a natural group that warrant generic status. We describe here the genus Cheniella R.Clark & Mackinder gen. nov. to accommodate them. It comprises 10 species and 3 subspecies, one newly described here. Generic characters include leaves that are simple and emarginate or bilobed; flowers with elongate hypanthia which are as long as or much longer than the sepals; pods that are glabrous, compressed, oblong, indehiscent or tardily dehiscent; and with numerous seeds, the seeds bearing an unusually long funicle extending most of the way around their circumference. A further distinctive floral character was found to be a fleshy disc on which the staminodes are mounted. An analysis carried out for this study reveals Cheniella to be characterised by a pollen type that is unique to the genus and previously unknown in the Leguminosae. Species diversity is richest in southern China, the full distribution extending westward to India and south-and eastward through Indochina into Malesia.

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“…Pollen walls must accommodate great contraction and expansion of the male gametophyte during pollen desiccation in the anther, presentation and dispersal, and upon rehydration on the stigma (Heslop‐Harrison, 1979). Banks and Rudall (2016, in this issue) explore the diversity of pollen structure and function among all 171 genera of the paraphyletic caesalpinioid legumes (the species‐rich papilionoid and mimosoid legumes are currently nested within the caesalpinioid clade, but were not studied). In this survey, 102 of 120 distinctive pollen morphologies were present in the two early‐divergent caesalpinioid tribes, Cercideae and Detarieae, compared with only 19 morphologies in the remaining two tribes (despite similar species numbers).…”

Section: What Specific Pollen Traits Affect Male Gametophyte Performamentioning

confidence: 99%

Pollen—Tiny and ephemeral but not forgotten: New ideas on their ecology and evolution

Williams

Mazer

2016

American J of Botany

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Ecologists and evolutionary biologists have been interested in the functional biology of pollen since the discovery in the 1800s that pollen grains encompass tiny plants (male gametophytes) that develop and produce sperm cells. After the discovery of double fertilization in flowering plants, botanists in the early 1900s were quick to explore the effects of temperature and maternal nutrients on pollen performance, while evolutionary biologists began studying the nature of haploid selection and pollen competition. A series of technical and theoretic developments have subsequently, but usually separately, expanded our knowledge of the nature of pollen performance and how it evolves. Today, there is a tremendous diversity of interests that touch on pollen performance, ranging from the ecological setting on the stigma, structural and physiological aspects of pollen germination and tube growth, the form of pollen competition and its role in sexual selection in plants, virus transmission, mating system evolution, and inbreeding depression. Given the explosion of technical knowledge of pollen cell biology, computer modeling, and new methods to deal with diversity in a phylogenetic context, we are now more than ever poised for a new era of research that includes complex functional traits that limit or enhance the evolution of these deceptively simple organisms.

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Pollen structure and function in caesalpinioid legumes

Cited by 41 publications

References 69 publications

Morphological diversity and function of the stigma in Ficus species (Moraceae)

Morphological diversity and function of the stigma in Ficus species (Moraceae)

Cheniella gen. nov. (Leguminosae: Cercidoideae) from southern China, Indochina and Malesia

Pollen—Tiny and ephemeral but not forgotten: New ideas on their ecology and evolution

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