Prof. Tetsuya Higashiyama's research groups, WPI-ITbM and JST-ERATO Higashiyama Live-Holonics Project, Nagoya University, and Assistant Prof. Daisuke Maruyama from the Institute for Advanced Research, Nagoya University, have successfully observed the entire plant fertilization process. By examining Arabidopsis following fertilization, they observed the synergid endosperm fusion in real time and explained how function of the synergid cell is stopped in pollen tube attraction.
In general, the cell wall, which surrounds the plant cell, prevents cell-to-cell fusion in plants. However, the findings of this study suggest a new function of the plant cell in cell fusion that will replace the principles that have been previously published in textbooks.
This study was published online in Cell on April 23, 2015.
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