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Reproductive biology

Section edited by Chris Makaroff

This section considers studies in the reproductive biology of plants including meiosis, gamete formation, fertilization and other reproductive processes.

Page 1 of 2

  1. Content type: Research article

    Asexual seed formation (apomixis) has been observed in diverse plant families but is rare in crop plants. The generation of apomictic crops would revolutionize agriculture, as clonal seed production provides a...

    Authors: Sophia Bräuning, Andrew Catanach, Janice M. Lord, Ross Bicknell and Richard C. Macknight

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2018 18:206

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  2. Content type: Research article

    Somatic embryogenesis in nucellar tissues is widely recognized to induce polyembryony in major citrus varieties such as sweet oranges, satsuma mandarins and lemons. This capability for apomixis is attractive i...

    Authors: Takehiko Shimada, Tomoko Endo, Hiroshi Fujii, Michiharu Nakano, Aiko Sugiyama, Genya Daido, Satoshi Ohta, Terutaka Yoshioka and Mitsuo Omura

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2018 18:166

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  3. Content type: Research article

    To explore poorly understood differences between primary and subsequent somatic embryogenic lines of plants, we induced secondary (2ry) and tertiary (3ry) lines from cotyledonary somatic embryos (SEs) of two Doug...

    Authors: Florian Gautier, Kateřina Eliášová, Jean-Charles Leplé, Zuzana Vondráková, Anne-Marie Lomenech, Claire Le Metté, Philippe Label, Guy Costa, Jean-François Trontin, Caroline Teyssier and Marie-Anne Lelu-Walter

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2018 18:164

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  4. Content type: Research article

    Plant anther development is a systematic and complex process precisely controlled by genes. Regulation genes and their regulatory mechanisms for this process remain elusive. In contrast to numerous researches ...

    Authors: Jin Chen, Pin Su, Pengyun Chen, Qiong Li, Xiaoling Yuan and Zhi Liu

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2018 18:154

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  5. Content type: Research article

    MADS-box genes are key regulators of plant reproductive development and members of most lineages of this gene family have been extensively studied. However, the function and diversification of the ancient TM8 lin...

    Authors: Heleen Coenen, Tom Viaene, Michiel Vandenbussche and Koen Geuten

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2018 18:129

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  6. Content type: Research article

    Among antioxidant enzymes, the superoxide dismutase (SOD) family is a major actor in catalysing the disproportionation of superoxide. Apart from its role as antioxidant, these enzymes have a role in cell signa...

    Authors: Adoración Zafra, Antonio Jesús Castro and Juan de Dios Alché

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2018 18:114

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  7. Content type: Research article

    Blueberry cultivars require a fixed quantity of chilling hours during winter endo-dormancy for vernalization. In this study, transcriptome analysis using RNA sequencing data from nonchilled, chilled, and late ...

    Authors: Guo-qing Song and Qiuxia Chen

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2018 18:98

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  8. Content type: Research article

    The reasons that clonal plants shift between sexual and clonal reproduction have persisted as a knowledge gap in ecological literature. We hypothesized that clonal plants’ shifts between sexual and clonal repr...

    Authors: Zhongwu Wang, Lina Xie, Chelse M. Prather, Hongyu Guo, Guodong Han and Chengcang Ma

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2018 18:91

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  9. Content type: Research article

    MADS-box genes are categorized into A, B, C, D and E classes and are involved in floral organ identity and flowering. Sheepgrass (Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvel) is an important perennial forage grass and adapts ...

    Authors: Junting Jia, Pincang Zhao, Liqin Cheng, Guangxiao Yuan, Weiguang Yang, Shu Liu, Shuangyan Chen, Dongmei Qi, Gongshe Liu and Xiaoxia Li

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2018 18:42

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  10. Content type: Research article

    Heterosis is widely used to increase the yield of many crops. However, as wheat is a self-pollinating crop, hybrid breeding is not so successful in this organism. Even though male sterility induced by chemical...

    Authors: Hongzhan Liu, Gaisheng Zhang, Junsheng Wang, Jingjing Li, Yulong Song, Lin Qiao, Na Niu, Junwei Wang, Shoucai Ma and Lili Li

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2018 18:7

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  11. Content type: Research article

    Light and temperatures of germination greatly affect germination of several Cucurbitaceae species. Environmental conditions prevailing at seed maturation time can affect dormancy and germination requirements. Cit...

    Authors: Ali El-Keblawy, Hatem A. Shabana, Teresa Navarro and Sameh Soliman

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2017 17:263

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    The Correction to this article has been published in BMC Plant Biology 2018 18:45

  12. Content type: Research article

    In Arabidopsis, the tapetum and microsporocytes are critical for pollen formation. Previous studies have shown that ARF17 is expressed in microsporocytes and tetrads and directly regulates tetrad wall synthesis f...

    Authors: Bo Wang, Jing-Shi Xue, Ya-Hui Yu, Si-Qi Liu, Jia-Xin Zhang, Xiao-Zhen Yao, Zhi-Xue Liu, Xiao-Feng Xu and Zhong-Nan Yang

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2017 17:243

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  13. Content type: Research article

    Coccinia grandis (ivy gourd), is a dioecious member of Cucurbitaceae having heteromorphic sex chromosomes. Chromosome constitution of male and female plants of C. grandis is 22A + XY a...

    Authors: Ravi Suresh Devani, Sangram Sinha, Jayeeta Banerjee, Rabindra Kumar Sinha, Abdelhafid Bendahmane and Anjan Kumar Banerjee

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2017 17:241

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  14. Content type: Methodology article

    The pollen tube (PT) serves as a model system for investigating plant cell growth and morphogenesis. Ultrastructural studies are indispensable to complement data from physiological and genetic analyses, yet an...

    Authors: Tohnyui Ndinyanka Fabrice, Andres Kaech, Gery Barmettler, Christof Eichenberger, J. Paul Knox, Ueli Grossniklaus and Christoph Ringli

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2017 17:176

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  15. Content type: Research article

    Sugar apple (Annona squamosa L.), a popular fruit with high medicinal and nutritional properties, is widely cultivated in tropical South Asia and America. The malformed flower is a major cause for a reduction in ...

    Authors: Kaidong Liu, Haili Li, Weijin Li, Jundi Zhong, Yan Chen, Chenjia Shen and Changchun Yuan

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2017 17:170

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  16. Content type: Research article

    Seed dormancy, defined as the incapability of a viable seed to germinate under favourable conditions, is an important trait in nature and agriculture. Despite extensive research on dormancy and germination, ma...

    Authors: Farzaneh Yazdanpanah, Johannes Hanson, Henk W.M. Hilhorst and Leónie Bentsink

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2017 17:151

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  17. Content type: Research article

    In citrus the transition from juvenility to mature phase is marked by the capability of a tree to flower and fruit consistently. The long period of juvenility in citrus severely impedes the use of genetic base...

    Authors: Melanie Pajon, Vicente J. Febres and Gloria A. Moore

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2017 17:146

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  18. Content type: Research article

    For most cruciferous plants, which are known as important crops and a number of weeds, hybrid breeding is hampered by the unavailability of a pollination control system. Male sterility induced by a gametocide ...

    Authors: Cheng-Yu Yu, Jun-Gang Dong, Sheng-Wu Hu and Ai-Xia Xu

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2017 17:95

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  19. Content type: Research article

    Unilateral incompatibility (UI) is an asymmetric reproductive barrier that unidirectionally prevents gene flow between species and/or populations. UI is characterized by a compatible interaction between partne...

    Authors: Amanda K. Broz, Rafael F. Guerrero, April M. Randle, You Soon Baek, Matthew W. Hahn and Patricia A. Bedinger

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2017 17:81

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  20. Content type: Research article

    Elymus sibiricus is an important forage grass in semi-arid regions, but it is difficult to grow for commercial seed production due to high seed shattering. To better understand the und...

    Authors: Wengang Xie, Junchao Zhang, Xuhong Zhao, Zongyu Zhang and Yanrong Wang

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2017 17:78

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  22. Content type: Research article

    In rice, the pistil is the female reproductive organ, and it consists of two stigmas and an ovary. The stigma is capable of receiving pollen grains and guiding pollen tube growth. The ovary holds the embryo sa...

    Authors: Li Yu, Tengfei Ma, Yuqin Zhang, Ying Hu, Ke Yu, Yueyue Chen, Haoli Ma and Jie Zhao

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2017 17:60

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  23. Content type: Research article

    The coordination of pollen tube (PT) growth, guidance and timely growth arrest and rupture mediated by PT-pistil interaction is crucial for the PT to transport sperm cells into ovules for double fertilization....

    Authors: Ning Yang and Tai Wang

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2017 17:2

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  24. Content type: Research article

    Sporopollenin is a major component of the pollen exine pattern. In Arabidopsis, acyl-CoA synthetase5 (ACOS5) is involved in sporopollenin precursor biosynthesis. In this study, we identified its orthologue, OsACO...

    Authors: Yueling Li, Dandan Li, Zongli Guo, Qiangsheng Shi, Shuangxi Xiong, Cheng Zhang, Jun Zhu and Zhongnan Yang

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2016 16:256

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  25. Content type: Research article

    Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is a globally important oilseed crop with highly-valued oil. Strong hybrid vigor is frequently observed within this crop, which can be exploited by the means of genic male sterility (G...

    Authors: Hongyan Liu, Mingpu Tan, Haijuan Yu, Liang Li, Fang Zhou, Minmin Yang, Ting Zhou and Yingzhong Zhao

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2016 16:250

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  26. Content type: Research article

    Pectins are one of the main components of plant cell walls. They are secreted to the wall as highly methylesterified forms that can be de-esterified by pectin methylesterases (PMEs). The degree of methylesteri...

    Authors: María-Teresa Solís, Eduardo Berenguer, María C. Risueño and Pilar S. Testillano

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2016 16:176

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  27. Content type: Research article

    MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of non-coding small RNAs (sRNAs), regulate various biological processes. Although miRNAs have been identified and characterized in several plant species, miRNAs in Asparagus officinali...

    Authors: Jingli Chen, Yi Zheng, Li Qin, Yan Wang, Lifei Chen, Yanjun He, Zhangjun Fei and Gang Lu

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2016 16:80

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  28. Content type: Research article

    The ARABIDOPSIS SKP1-LIKE1 (ASK1) protein functions as a subunit of SKP1-CUL1-F-box (SCF) E3 ubiquitin ligases. Previous genetic studies showed that ASK1 plays important roles in Arabidopsis flower development...

    Authors: Dihong Lu, Weimin Ni, Bruce A. Stanley and Hong Ma

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2016 16:61

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  29. Content type: Research article

    The transition from vegetative to floral state in shoot apical meristems (SAM) is a key event in plant development and is of crucial importance for reproductive success. In perennial plants, this event is recu...

    Authors: B. Guitton, J. J. Kelner, J. M. Celton, X. Sabau, J. P. Renou, D. Chagné and E. Costes

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2016 16:55

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  30. Content type: Research article

    Oligogalacturonic acids (OGs) are oligomers of alpha-1,4-linked galacturonosyl residues that are released from cell walls by the hydrolysis of polygalacturonic acids upon fruit ripening and under abiotic/bioti...

    Authors: Yingxuan Ma, Leilei Zhou, Zhichao Wang, Jianting Chen and Guiqin Qu

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2016 16:13

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  31. Content type: Research article

    Fragmentation of habitats by roads, railroads, fields, buildings and other human activities can affect population size, pollination success, sexual and asexual reproduction specially in plants showing pollinat...

    Authors: Giuseppe Pellegrino, Francesca Bellusci and Anna Maria Palermo

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2015 15:222

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  32. Content type: Research article

    Jatropha curcas L. is a potential biofuel plant. Application of exogenous cytokinin (6-benzyladenine, BA) on its inflorescence buds can significantly increase the number of female flowers, thereby improving seed ...

    Authors: Mao-Sheng Chen, Bang-Zhen Pan, Gui-Juan Wang, Jun Ni, Longjian Niu and Zeng-Fu Xu

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2014 14:318

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  33. Content type: Research article

    The identity of flower organs is specified by various MIKC MADS-box transcription factors which act in a combinatorial manner. TM8 is a MADS-box gene that was isolated from the floral meristem of a tomato mutant ...

    Authors: Margherita Daminato, Simona Masiero, Francesca Resentini, Alessandro Lovisetto and Giorgio Casadoro

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2014 14:319

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  34. Content type: Research article

    In flowering plants, apomixis (asexual reproduction via seeds) is widely believed to result from failure of key regulators of the sexual female reproductive pathway. In the past few years, both differential di...

    Authors: Lorena A Siena, Juan Pablo A Ortiz, Olivier Leblanc and Silvina Pessino

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2014 14:297

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  35. Content type: Research article

    The inferior spikelets are defined to be those at portions where the grains receive less photosynthetic products during the seed development. The typical inferior spikelets are physically located on the proxim...

    Authors: Ting Peng, Hongzheng Sun, Mengmeng Qiao, Yafan Zhao, Yanxiu Du, Jing Zhang, Junzhou Li, Guiliang Tang and Quanzhi Zhao

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2014 14:196

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  36. Content type: Research article

    In flowering plants a number of genes have been identified which control the transition from a vegetative to generative phase of life cycle. In bryophytes representing basal lineage of land plants, there is li...

    Authors: Izabela Sierocka, Lukasz P Kozlowski, Janusz M Bujnicki, Artur Jarmolowski and Zofia Szweykowska-Kulinska

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2014 14:168

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  37. Content type: Research article

    The Arabidopsis thaliana LEC2 gene encodes a B3 domain transcription factor, which plays critical roles during both zygotic and somatic embryogenesis. LEC2 exerts significant impacts on determining embryogenic po...

    Authors: Yufan Zhang, Adam Clemens, Siela N Maximova and Mark J Guiltinan

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2014 14:106

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  38. Content type: Research article

    Spray cut chrysanthemum is a vital flower with high ornamental value and popularity in the world. However, the excessive quantity of pollen dispersal of most spray cut chrysanthemum is an adverse factor during...

    Authors: Xiao-Guang Wang, Hai-Bin Wang, Fa-Di Chen, Jia-Fu Jiang, Wei-Min Fang, Yuan Liao and Nian-Jun Teng

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2014 14:5

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  40. Content type: Research article

    Plants may adapt to alpine habitats by specialization in the reproductive strategy and functional aspects of their flowers and pollination systems. Alpine habitats reduce the opportunities for cross-pollinatio...

    Authors: Honglian Ai, Wei Zhou, Kun Xu, Hong Wang and Dezhu Li

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2013 13:195

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  41. Content type: Research article

    We have identified a kind of parthenocarpy in zucchini squash which is associated with an incomplete andromonoecy, i.e. a partial conversion of female into bisexual flowers. Given that andromonoecy in this and...

    Authors: Cecilia Martínez, Susana Manzano, Zoraida Megías, Dolores Garrido, Belén Picó and Manuel Jamilena

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2013 13:139

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  42. Content type: Research article

    It is during embryogenesis that the plant body plan is established and the meristems responsible for all post-embryonic growth are specified. The molecular mechanisms governing conifer embryogenesis are still ...

    Authors: José J de Vega-Bartol, Marta Simões, W Walter Lorenz, Andreia S Rodrigues, Rob Alba, Jeffrey F D Dean and Célia M Miguel

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2013 13:123

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  43. Content type: Research article

    The establishment of sister chromatid cohesion followed by its controlled release at the metaphase to anaphase transition is necessary for faithful segregation of chromosomes in mitosis and meiosis. Cohesion i...

    Authors: Dipesh K Singh, Sebastien Andreuzza, Aneesh P Panoli and Imran Siddiqi

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2013 13:117

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  44. Content type: Research article

    myo-Inositol (Ins) metabolism during early stages of seed development plays an important role in determining the distributional relationships of some seed storage components such as the antinutritional factors, s...

    Authors: Jinzhuo Dong, Wei Yan, Cheryl Bock, Kateryna Nokhrina, Wilf Keller and Fawzy Georges

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2013 13:84

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  45. Content type: Research article

    Genetic male sterility (GMS) in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) plays an important role in the utilization of hybrid vigor. However, the molecular mechanism of the GMS is still unclear. While numerous studies have de...

    Authors: Mingming Wei, Hengling Wei, Man Wu, Meizhen Song, Jinfa Zhang, Jiwen Yu, Shuli Fan and Shuxun Yu

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2013 13:66

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  46. Content type: Research article

    Arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs) are cell wall proteoglycans that have been shown to be important for pollen development. An Arabidopsis double null mutant for two pollen-specific AGPs (agp6 agp11) showed reduced ...

    Authors: Mário Costa, Margarida Sofia Nobre, Jörg D Becker, Simona Masiero, Maria Isabel Amorim, Luís Gustavo Pereira and Sílvia Coimbra

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2013 13:7

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  47. Content type: Research article

    In crosses between the proline-deficient mutant homozygous for p5cs1 and heterozygous for p5cs2 (p5cs1 p5cs2/P5CS2), used as male, and different Arabidopsis mutants, used as females, the p5cs2 mutant allele was r...

    Authors: Roberto Mattioli, Marco Biancucci, Chiara Lonoce, Paolo Costantino and Maurizio Trovato

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2012 12:236

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  48. Content type: Database

    Male reproduction is an essential biological event in the plant life cycle separating the diploid sporophyte and haploid gametophyte generations, which involves expression of approximately 20,000 genes. The co...

    Authors: Xiao Cui, Qiudao Wang, Wenzhe Yin, Huayong Xu, Zoe A Wilson, Chaochun Wei, Shenyuan Pan and Dabing Zhang

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2012 12:215

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  50. Content type: Research article

    The pollen grain contains the male gametophyte that extends a pollen tube that grows through female tissues in order to deliver sperm to the embryo sac for double fertilization. Growing pollen tubes form perio...

    Authors: Peng Qin, Dylan Ting, Andrew Shieh and Sheila McCormick

    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2012 12:178

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