Ultrastructural study of maturing pollen in Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. (Brassicaceae)

Abstract

Ultrastructural changes in Arabidopsis thaliana pollen, between late microspore stage and mature pollen stage were described. When the generative cell was peeled off from the intine, it was of spherical shape and had all usual organelles with the exception of plastids. The cytoplasm transformation of the vegetative cell included an increase in the number of mitochondria and changes in the accumulation of starch and lipid bodies. The starch plastids were observed at the bicellular and early tricellular pollen stages and next starch was utilized during the maturation procces. The lipid bodies of the vegetative cell form a very regular sheath around the generative cell and then, around the sperm cells. Before anthesis the lipid bodies were dispersed within the whole vegetative cell cytoplasm.