Plant Developmental Pathways: Haploid, Zygotic and Somatic Embryos

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Development and Morphogenesis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2024) | Viewed by 7739

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Biotechnology, The F. Górski Institute of Plant Physiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Niezapominajek 21, 30-239 Kraków, Poland
Interests: somatic embryogenesis; wide crossing and androgenesis of cereals; micropropagation of Fabaceae
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Biotechnology, The F. Górski Institute of Plant Physiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Niezapominajek 21, 30-239 Kraków, Poland
Interests: plants in vitro culture; somatic embryogenesis; organogenesis; androgenesis and wide crossing of cereals; flow cytometry; histology of plant tissues

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Guest Editor
Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science, University of Kragujevac, Radoja Domanovića 12, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia
Interests: plant tissue culture; primary and secondary metabolism; biosynthesis of functional metabolites
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The concept of tissue culture, proposed over one hundred and twenty years ago by Haberlandt, was based on the phenomenon of totipotency and predicted the regeneration of whole plants from single cells in in vitro cultures. Since most plant cells under appropriate conditions dedifferentiate and can transform into an embryogenic cell, the induction of somatic embryogenesis becomes useful for biochemical, physiological, genetic, and agricultural studies. Recent experimental conditions allow the use of any plant cell, both haploid and diploid, to test their ability to differentiate into complete individuals, and the development of a regeneration pattern that provides an excellent system for studying the biotechnological capabilities of plants. One of the most interesting types of cells are gametes, containing half the chromosomes found in somatic cells and heterogeneous populations of specialized cells developed from a single fertilized egg. Haploids are a potent and vital tool for basic research and breeding programs of crop and ornamental plant enhancement. As a result of doubling the number of haploids’ chromosomes, we obtain completely homozygous and fertile plants. The current Special Issue will present an overview of major methods for producing haploid/doubled haploid embryos and plants, including androgenesis, gynogenesis, wide crossing, and in vitro cultures of male or female gametes. For plenty of species, somatic embryogenesis and doubled haploid techniques have been established, and detailed information regarding the commercial cultivars produced in that way is of great importance.

Prof. Dr. Edyta Skrzypek
Dr. Marzena Warchoł
Dr. Dragana Z. Jakovljević
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • haploid embryo
  • zygotic embryo
  • somatic embryo
  • interspecific and intergeneric hybrids

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 3604 KiB  
Article
The Mechanism of Ovule Abortion in Self-Pollinated ‘Hanfu’ Apple Fruits and Related Gene Screening
by Haiyang Wei, Baoan Wang, Ya Xu, Wenqi Fan, Manyu Zhang, Fuli Huang, Chenxi Shi, Tianzhong Li, Shengnan Wang and Shengyuan Wang
Plants 2024, 13(7), 996; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13070996 - 30 Mar 2024
Viewed by 485
Abstract
Apples exhibit S-RNase-mediated self-incompatibility and typically require cross-pollination in nature. ‘Hanfu’ is a cultivar that produces abundant fruit after self-pollination, although it also shows a high rate of seed abortion afterwards, which greatly reduces fruit quality. In this study, we investigated the ovule [...] Read more.
Apples exhibit S-RNase-mediated self-incompatibility and typically require cross-pollination in nature. ‘Hanfu’ is a cultivar that produces abundant fruit after self-pollination, although it also shows a high rate of seed abortion afterwards, which greatly reduces fruit quality. In this study, we investigated the ovule development process and the mechanism of ovule abortion in apples after self-pollination. Using a DIC microscope and biomicroscope, we found that the abortion of apple ovules occurs before embryo formation and results from the failure of sperm–egg fusion. Further, we used laser-assisted microdissection (LAM) cutting and sperm and egg cell sequencing at different periods after pollination to obtain the genes related to ovule abortion. The top 40 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were further verified, and the results were consistent with switching the mechanism at the 5′ end of the RNA transcript (SMART-seq). Through this study, we can preliminarily clarify the mechanism of ovule abortion in self-pollinated apple fruits and provide a gene reserve for further study and improvement of ‘Hanfu’ apple fruit quality. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Developmental Pathways: Haploid, Zygotic and Somatic Embryos)
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17 pages, 3319 KiB  
Article
New Epigenetic Modifier Inhibitors Enhance Microspore Embryogenesis in Bread Wheat
by Isabel Valero-Rubira, María Pilar Vallés, Begoña Echávarri, Patricia Fustero, María Asunción Costar and Ana María Castillo
Plants 2024, 13(6), 772; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13060772 - 08 Mar 2024
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Abstract
The use of doubled haploid (DH) technology enables the development of new varieties of plants in less time than traditional breeding methods. In microspore embryogenesis (ME), stress treatment triggers microspores towards an embryogenic pathway, resulting in the production of DH plants. Epigenetic modifiers [...] Read more.
The use of doubled haploid (DH) technology enables the development of new varieties of plants in less time than traditional breeding methods. In microspore embryogenesis (ME), stress treatment triggers microspores towards an embryogenic pathway, resulting in the production of DH plants. Epigenetic modifiers have been successfully used to increase ME efficiency in a number of crops. In wheat, only the histone deacetylase inhibitor trichostatin A (TSA) has been shown to be effective. In this study, inhibitors of epigenetic modifiers acting on histone methylation (chaetocin and CARM1 inhibitor) and histone phosphorylation (aurora kinase inhibitor II (AUKI-II) and hesperadin) were screened to determine their potential in ME induction in high- and mid-low-responding cultivars. The use of chaetocin and AUKI-II resulted in a higher percentage of embryogenic structures than controls in both cultivars, but only AUKI-II was superior to TSA. In order to evaluate the potential of AUKI-II in terms of increasing the number of green DH plants, short and long application strategies were tested during the mannitol stress treatment. The application of 0.8 µM AUKI-II during a long stress treatment resulted in a higher percentage of chromosome doubling compared to control DMSO in both cultivars. This concentration produced 33% more green DH plants than the control in the mid-low-responding cultivar, but did not affect the final ME efficiency in a high-responding cultivar. This study has identified new epigenetic modifiers whose use could be promising for increasing the efficiency of other systems that require cellular reprogramming. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Developmental Pathways: Haploid, Zygotic and Somatic Embryos)
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Review

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60 pages, 2047 KiB  
Review
Embryo Rescue in Plant Breeding
by Ugo Rogo, Marco Fambrini and Claudio Pugliesi
Plants 2023, 12(17), 3106; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12173106 - 29 Aug 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 5852
Abstract
Embryo rescue (ER) techniques are among the oldest and most successful in vitro tissue culture protocols used with plant species. ER refers to a series of methods that promote the development of an immature or lethal embryo into a viable plant. Intraspecific, interspecific, [...] Read more.
Embryo rescue (ER) techniques are among the oldest and most successful in vitro tissue culture protocols used with plant species. ER refers to a series of methods that promote the development of an immature or lethal embryo into a viable plant. Intraspecific, interspecific, or intergeneric crosses allow the introgression of important alleles of agricultural interest from wild species, such as resistance or tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses or morphological traits in crops. However, pre-zygotic and post-zygotic reproductive barriers often present challenges in achieving successful hybridization. Pre-zygotic barriers manifest as incompatibility reactions that hinder pollen germination, pollen tube growth, or penetration into the ovule occurring in various tissues, such as the stigma, style, or ovary. To overcome these barriers, several strategies are employed, including cut-style or graft-on-style techniques, the utilization of mixed pollen from distinct species, placenta pollination, and in vitro ovule pollination. On the other hand, post-zygotic barriers act at different tissues and stages ranging from early embryo development to the subsequent growth and reproduction of the offspring. Many crosses among different genera result in embryo abortion due to the failure of endosperm development. In such cases, ER techniques are needed to rescue these hybrids. ER holds great promise for not only facilitating successful crosses but also for obtaining haploids, doubled haploids, and manipulating the ploidy levels for chromosome engineering by monosomic and disomic addition as well substitution lines. Furthermore, ER can be used to shorten the reproductive cycle and for the propagation of rare plants. Additionally, it has been repeatedly used to study the stages of embryonic development, especially in embryo-lethal mutants. The most widely used ER procedure is the culture of immature embryos taken and placed directly on culture media. In certain cases, the in vitro culture of ovule, ovaries or placentas enables the successful development of young embryos from the zygote stage to maturity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Developmental Pathways: Haploid, Zygotic and Somatic Embryos)
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