Temperature stress and plant sexual reproduction: uncovering the weakest links

The reproductive (gametophytic) phase in flowering plants is often highly sensitive to hot or cold temperature stresses, with even a single hot day or cold night sometimes being fatal to reproductive success. This review describes studies of temperature stress on several crop plants, which suggest that pollen development and fertilization may often be the most sensitive reproductive stage. Transcriptome and proteomic studies on several plant species are beginning to identify stress response pathways that function during pollen development. An example is provided here of genotypic differences in the reproductive stress tolerance between two ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana Columbia (Col) and Hilversum (Hi-0),…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: 0420033, 0920624
• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy
• NI
  National Institutes of Health
• DO
  Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences
• DO
  Division of Biological Infrastructure