Abstract
Boron is an essential micronutrient for plants. Boron is important for pollen tube elongation. Boron transporters BOR6, BOR7 are expressed in pollen grains and tubes. We studied possible roles in pollen tube elongation and fertilization.
T-DNA insertion lines for BOR6, BOR7 were obtained and lines heterozygous for T-DNA insertion were grown under limited supply of B. T-DNA segregation among the seeds from self-pollinated heterozygous plants was examined. It was found that homozygous lines in terms of T-DNA insertion was underrepresented while lines without T-DNA was overrepresented, suggesting the roles of these gene in efficient fertilization under low B conditions. Pollens carrying T-DNAs in both BOR6 and BOR7 were found to elongate shorter pollen tubes when germinated in vitro with normal media. Abnormal pollen tubes elongation was also observed in vivo in pistils of selfed double homozygous lines for BOR6 and BOR7 grown under low B conditions.
