Abstract
Boron is an essential micronutrient for the plants. The male sterility is one of the B deficiency symptoms. BOR6 and BOR7 are boron transporters specifically expressed in pollen and pollen tubes. We investigated roles of BOR6 and BOR7 in reproduction. When plants are grown under B deficient condition and pollen tubes in pistils were observed, pollen tubes of double mutant for the BOR6 and BOR7 genes were shorter than the wild type. WT pollen tubes reached to the lower part of the pistil, while those of the double mutant did not. Pollen tubes of the double mutant tend to extend toward ovules in the upper part of the pistil rather than reaching to the lower part of pistils. T-DNA insertions in BOR6, BOR7 did not segregate in the 1:2:1 ratio and wild type plants appeared in a higher frequency. Our results suggest that BOR6 and BOR7 play an important role in the pollen tube elongation and reproduction.
