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Plant and Cell Physiology Advance Access published online on September 8, 2008
Plant and Cell Physiology, doi:10.1093/pcp/pcn131
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists. All rights reserved.
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Identification of kaonashi mutants showing abnormal pollen exine structure in Arabidopsis thaliana

Toshiya Suzuki, Kanari Masaoka, Masatomo Nishi, Kenzo Nakamura and Sumie Ishiguro*

Department of Biological Mechanisms and Functions, Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan

*Corresponding author. Dr. Sumie Ishiguro, Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, E1-1 (300) Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan. Tel: 052-789-4097, Fax: 052-789-4094, E-mail: guronyan{at}agr.nagoya-u.ac.jp


  Abstract

Exine, the outermost architecture of pollen walls, protects male gametes from the environment by virtue of its chemical and physical stability. Although much effort has been devoted to reveal the mechanism of exine construction, still little about it is known. To identify the genes involved in exine formation, we screened for Arabidopsis mutants with pollen grains exhibiting abnormal exine structure under scanning electron microscopy. We isolated twelve mutants, kaonashi1 (kns1) to kns12, and classified them into four types. The type 1 mutants showed collapsed exine structure resembling a mutant of the callose synthase gene, suggesting that the type 1 gene is involved in callose wall synthesis. The type 2 mutant showed remarkably thin exine structure, presumably due to defective primexine thickening. The type 3 mutants showed defective tectum formation, and thus type 3 genes are required for primordial tectum formation or biosynthesis and deposition of sporopollenin. The type 4 mutants showed densely distributed baculae, suggesting type 4 genes determine the position of probacula formation. All identified kns mutants were recessive, suggesting that these KNS genes are expressed in sporophytic cells. Unlike previously known exine-defective mutants, most of the kns mutants showed normal fertility. Map-based cloning revealed that KNS2, one of the type 4 genes, encodes sucrose-phosphate synthase. This enzyme might be required for synthesis of primexine or callose wall, which are both important for probacula positioning. Analysis of kns mutants will provide new knowledge to help understand the mechanism of biosynthesis of exine components and the construction of exine architecture.

Keywords: Arabidopsis thaliana - exine - kaonashi - pollen grain - sucrose-phosphate synthase

(Received August 2, 2008; Accepted August 29, 2008)
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