Shanghai Chenshan Plant Science Research Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden, Shanghai 201602, China.
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics and Resources, Shanghai 201602, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2019 Feb 26;20(5):1015. doi: 10.3390/ijms20051015.
The lotus ( Adans.) is a perennial aquatic plant with important value in horticulture, medicine, food, religion, and culture. It is rich in germplasm and more than 2000 cultivars have been cultivated through hybridization and natural selection. Microsporogenesis and male gametogenesis in the anther are important for hybridization in flowering plants. However, little is known about the cytological events, especially related to the stamen, during the reproduction of the lotus. To better understand the mechanism controlling the male reproductive development of the lotus, we investigated the flower structure of the Asian lotus (). The cytological analysis of anther morphogenesis showed both the common and specialized cytological events as well as the formation of mature pollen grains via meiosis and mitosis during lotus anther development. Intriguingly, an anatomical difference in anther appendage structures was observed between the Asian lotus and the American lotus (). To facilitate future study on lotus male reproduction, we categorized pollen development into 11 stages according to the characterized cytological events. This discovery expands our knowledge on the pollen and appendage development of the lotus as well as improving the understanding of the species differentiation of and .
荷花（Adans.）是一种多年生水生植物，具有园艺、医学、食品、宗教和文化等方面的重要价值。它具有丰富的种质资源，通过杂交和自然选择已经培育出了 2000 多个品种。花粉母细胞减数分裂和雄性配子体发生对于有花植物的杂交非常重要。然而，对于荷花繁殖过程中的细胞学事件，特别是与雄蕊有关的细胞学事件，了解甚少。为了更好地理解荷花雄性生殖发育的调控机制，我们对亚洲荷花（Nelumbo nucifera）的花结构进行了研究。花药形态发生的细胞学分析显示，荷花花药发育过程中存在着共同的和特化的细胞学事件，以及减数分裂和有丝分裂形成成熟花粉粒的过程。有趣的是，我们观察到亚洲荷花和美洲荷花（Nelumbo lutea）的花药附属物结构存在解剖学差异。为了方便未来对荷花雄性生殖的研究，我们根据特征性的细胞学事件将花粉发育分为 11 个阶段。这一发现扩展了我们对荷花花粉和附属物发育的认识，也加深了对亚洲荷花和美洲荷花种间分化的理解。
