Live and let die: a REM complex promotes fertilization through synergid cell death in Arabidopsis.

Fertilization in flowering plants requires a complex series of coordinated events involving interaction between the male and female gametophyte. We report here molecular data on one of the key events underpinning this process - the death of the receptive synergid cell and the coincident bursting of the pollen tube inside the ovule to release the sperm. We show that two REM transcription factors, VALKYRIE (VAL) and VERDANDI (VDD), both targets of the ovule identity MADS-box complex SEEDSTICK-SEPALLATA3, interact to control the death of the receptive synergid cell.