Abstract
Plant reproductive development is more sensitive to various environmental stresses than vegetative growth. Especially, high-temperature stress causes abortive male reproductive development in lots of plant species. Here, we report the mechanism of high-temperature injury during anther early development in barley plants. Under high-temperature conditions, cell proliferation arrest, abnormalities of the mitochondria, nuclear membrane, and rough endoplasmic reticulum and premature degradation of tapetum cells and premature progression to meiotic were specifically observed in anther cells. To monitor the entire gene expressions during high-temperature injury, we performed DNA microarray analyses. Certain genes involved in histone, DNA replication initiation, mitochondria and ribosomal proteins were specifically repressed in the injured panicles. Series of genes, meiosis specific gene and anther specific LTP, was prematurely up-regulated at the earlier stage under the high-temperature conditions, suggesting that high temperature causes premature progression of anther early development programs, accompanied by comprehensive alterations in transcription.
