Ultrastructural transformations in the cytoplasm of differentiating Hyacinthus orientalis L. pollen cells

Abstract

The sequence of ultrastructural changes in the cytoplasm during the successive stages of pollen grain development in Hyacinthus orientulis pollen cells was studied. The cytoplasmic transformations of the generative cell included the elimination of plastids, increase in the number of mitochondria, assumption of a spindle shape with the aid of microtubules and the characteristic development of the vacuole system with the formation of so-called colored bodies. The cytoplasmic transformations of the generative cell encompassed changes in the plastids, which began to accumulate starch soon after the cell was formed, then released it shortly before anthesis, an increase in the number of mitochondria and an increase in the number of highly active dictyosomes just before anthesis. Changes in the structure of the border region between the differentiating pollen cells were associated mainly with the periodical appearance of a callose wall and the presence of lysosome-like bodies in the cytoplasm of the vegetative cell surrounding the generative cell. They arose soon after the disappearance of the callose wall and disappeared shortly before anthesis.