Phylogenetic comparative analysis of microsporogenesis in angiosperms with a focus on monocots.

This paper presents the first broad overview of three main features of microsporogenesis (male meiosis) in angiosperms: cytokinesis (cell division), intersporal wall formation, and tetrad form. A phylogenetic comparative approach was used to test for correlated evolution among these characters and to make hypotheses about evolutionary trends in microsporogenesis. The link between features of microsporogenesis and pollen aperture type was examined.

Post-meiotic cytokinesis and pollen aperture pattern ontogeny: comparison of development in four species differing in aperture pattern.

Pollen aperture patterns vary widely in angiosperms. An increasing number of studies indicate that aperture pattern ontogeny is correlated with the way in which cytokinesis that follows male meiosis is completed. The formation of the intersporal callose walls that isolate the microspores after meiosis was studied in four species with different aperture patterns (two monocots, Phormium tenax and Asphodelus albus, and two eudicots, Helleborus foetidus and Protea lepidocarpodendron).