ACTA BIOLOGICA CRACOVIENSIA Series Botanica 47/2: 97-110, 2005

Pollen Morphology and Two-Dimensional Patterns of Pollen Coat and Protoplast Proteins in Aegilops kotschyi x Secale cereale Amphiploids

Andrzej Kalinowski1*, Małgorzata Klimko2 and Barbara Wojciechowska1

*1 Institute of Plant Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 
ul. Strzeszyńska 34, 60–479 Poznań, Poland
2 Department of Botany, August Cieszkowski Agricultural University,

*e-mail: akal@igr.poznan.pl

Received November 7, 2004; revision accepted June 30, 2005

Amphiploid pollen of Aegilops kotschyi x Secale cereale was compared to the parental form by SEM, and comparatively measured using light microscopy.Amphiploid pollen of Aegilops kotschyi x Secale cereale was compared to the parental form by SEM, and comparatively measured using light microscopy. Pollen grains of amphiploids were larger and more variable in total and pore diameter than the parents. Amphiploid pollen was prolate, subprolate and prolate-spheroidal in shape. The exine of Ae. kotschyi AK-2 and AK-3 had a delicate verrucate surface, whereas Secale cereale S14 exine had a verrucate surface. Amphiploid pollen grain surfaces were more or less similar to those of the parents: delicate verrucate, verrucate and well verrucate. The sculpture of parental and amphiploid pollen grains showed conspicuous granulation. All amphiploids produced pollen with one pore with an operculum, surrounded by a well-defined annulus.
	Sporophytically produced peptides from the pollen coat and gametophytically produced peptides from the protoplast were analyzed separately by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Two accessions of Ae. kotschyi (AK-2, AK-3) showed differences in the 2-D patterns of peptides from both the pollen coat and the protoplast. The majority of pollen coat and protoplast peptides of the parents were detected in the amphiploids, but a number of parental peptides were absent. All the amphiploids possessed peptides in their pollen coat and protoplast not detected in the corresponding pollen fractions of the parents. No relation between colchicine and in vitro amphiploid production and its 2-D patterns was observed. The results of pollen morphology and pollen protein analysis are convergent.

Key words: Amphiploids, Aegilops kotschyi, Secale cereale, pollen morphology, protein, pollen coat, pollen protoplast.