Xu H, Swoboda I, Bhalla P L, Singh M B
Department of Environmental Horticulture and Resource Management, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
Plant Mol Biol. 1999 Feb;39(3):607-14. doi: 10.1023/a:1006162120037.
Formation of the generative cell in flowering plants initiates the male spermatogenesis pathway which eventually culminates in the process of double fertilization. Little is known about the molecular mechanisms operative in the generative cell. Here, we report the isolation and characterization of cDNA clones encoding generative cell-specific histones, gcH2A and gcH3. In situ hybridization analysis revealed that both genes are activated after formation of the generative cell and accumulation of transcripts increases progressively during generative cell maturation. These results suggest that gcH2A and gcH3 mRNAs are products of transcriptional activation of the generative cell nucleus and thus provide the first evidence for male germ line cell-specific gene expression in flowering plants.
开花植物中生殖细胞的形成启动了雄性精子发生途径，该途径最终在双受精过程中达到顶点。关于生殖细胞中起作用的分子机制，人们了解甚少。在此，我们报告了编码生殖细胞特异性组蛋白gcH2A和gcH3的cDNA克隆的分离和特性分析。原位杂交分析表明，这两个基因在生殖细胞形成后被激活，并且在生殖细胞成熟过程中转录本的积累逐渐增加。这些结果表明，gcH2A和gcH3 mRNA是生殖细胞核转录激活的产物，从而为开花植物中雄性生殖系细胞特异性基因表达提供了首个证据。
