A new article on structure-function analysis of LORELEI
is published from our lab
Liu, X., Castro, C., Wang, Y., Noble, J., Ponvert, N., Bundy, M., Hoel, C., Shpak, E., and Palanivelu, R. (2016). The Role of LORELEI in Pollen Tube Reception at the Interface of the Synergid Cell and Pollen Tube Requires the Modified Eight-Cysteine Motif and the Receptor-Like Kinase FERONIA. Plant Cell 28: 1035-1052.
http://www.plantcell.org/content/28/5/1035.full.pdf+html
*This paper was profiled in "In Brief" section in the Plant Cell. “Sticking the Landing: Probing the Roles of LORELEI in Pollen Tube Reception” by Jennifer Lockhart. Plant Cell. Link to the article.
*The first author of this paper, Dr. Xunliang Liu, was also highlighted with a profile. Link to the profile page
*Our image submission was also chosen as the cover of the May 2016 issue of The Plant Cell (image above), in which this article was published.
Abstract of the paper:
In angiosperms, pollen tube reception by the female gametophyte is required for sperm release and double fertilization. In Arabidopsis thaliana lorelei (lre) mutants, pollen tube reception fails in most female gametophytes, which thus remain unfertilized. LRE encodes a putative glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored surface protein with a modified eight-cysteine motif (M8CM). LRE fused to citrine yellow fluorescent protein (LRE-cYFP) remains functional and localizes to the synergid plasma membrane-rich filiform apparatus, the first point of contact between the pollen tube and the female gametophyte. Structure-function analysis using LRE-cYFP showed that the role of LRE in pollen tube reception requires the M8CM, but not the domains required for GPI anchor addition. Consistently, LRE-cYFP-TM, where GPI anchor addition domains were replaced with a single-pass transmembrane domain, fully complemented the pollen tube reception defect in lre-7 female gametophytes. Ectopically expressed and delivered LRE-cYFP from pollen tubes could non-cell-autonomously complement the pollen tube reception defect in lre female gametophytes, only if they expressed FERONIA. Additionally, pollen tube-expressing LRE variants lacking domains critical for GPI anchor addition also rescued lre female gametophyte function. Therefore, LRE and FERONIA jointly function in pollen tube reception at the interface of the synergid cell and pollen tube.
