COMPARISON OF FLAGELLATED AND NONFLAGELLATED SPERM IN PLANTS

Citation
D. Southworth et M. Cresti, COMPARISON OF FLAGELLATED AND NONFLAGELLATED SPERM IN PLANTS, American journal of botany, 84(9), 1997, pp. 1301-1311
Citations number
110
Categorie Soggetti
Plant Sciences
Journal title
ISSN journal
00029122
Volume
84
Issue
9
Year of publication
1997
Pages
1301 - 1311
Database
ISI
SICI code
0002-9122(1997)84:9<1301:COFANS>2.0.ZU;2-1
Abstract
Differences among flagellated and nonflagellated sperm in land plants are striking, but close examination reveals similarities in pattern of cytoskeleton and in nuclear structure. The microtubular cytoskeleton of flowering plant sperm consists of microtubule bundles arranged obli quely around the nucleus, terminating in cellular extensions. Microtub ules are linked into bundles that branch and rejoin along the axis of the sperm cell, forming a cytoskeleton that determines cell shape but does not actively participate in cell movement. Generative cells and s perm share a pattern of microtubules not found in somatic cells. This pattern is initiated in the generative cell, one division before sperm formation, a situation parallel to spermatogenous cell development in vascular plants with flagellated sperm. Chromatin in flagellated and nonflagellated sperm is condensed by specialized histones.