Abstract
MADS-box genes are known as floral homeotic genes and are also involved in various developmental processes in flowering plants. Our researches on a moss, a fern and a green algae suggest that MADS-box genes function in the differentiation of reproductive cells in non-flowering plants. We also reported that some MADS-box genes are specifically expressed in pollen (Kofuji et al., Mol. Biol. Evol., in press), which bears reproductive cells, suggesting that the involvement of MADS-box genes in the differentiation of reproductive cells are evolutionally conserved among land plants. To investigate the detailed function of MADS-box genes in reproductive cell differentiation, functional analyses of three pollen specific MADS-box genes in Arabidopsis are in progress. We found that the in vitro germination rate of triple disruptant pollen was much reduced compared to that of wild type pollen, although mutant pollen normally grow in vivo. Results on microarray and morphological analyses will be presented.
