Evaluation of the presence of arabinogalactan proteins and pectins during Quercus suber male gametogenesis.

Background And Aims: Quercus suber (cork oak) is a dominant tree of the Fagaceae in forests of the south-west Iberian Peninsula. It is monoecious with a long progamic phase that provides a comprehensive system for comparative studies in development and sexual reproduction. In this study the distribution of arabinogalactan protein (AGPs) and pectin epitopes in anthers of Q. suber was assessed to map these hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins and the galacturonate-rich acidic polysaccharides during pollen development. Methods Immunolocalization in male flowers was performed with a set of monoclonal antibodies directed against the carbohydrate moiety that recognizes AGPs and pectins. To identify AGP genes involved in cork oak male flower development, a search was conducted for annotated AGP genes in the available transcriptome data of the Cork Oak EST Consortium database (www.corkoakdb.org).

Key Results: Ubiquitous labelling in all cell types was obtained with anti-homogalacturan antibodies for methyl-esterified pectins. In contrast, the antibody that labelled non-methyl-esterified homogalacturans had a preferential presence in microsporocyte cells walls at the beginning of pollen development. Intense labelling was obtained with anti-AGP antibodies both in the tapetum and in the intine wall near the pollen apertures and later in the generative cell wall and vegetative cell. Evaluation of the putative AGPs highly expressed in the male gametophyte was achieved by quantitative RT-PCR analysis in male and female cork oak flowers.

Conclusions: Four putative AGP genes were identified that are preferentially expressed in the male flower compared with the female flower. The putative Arabidopsis thaliana orthologues of these genes are associated with preferential expression in pollen, suggesting that the AGPs probably play a significant role in cork oak reproduction.