Pollen: Development and Physiology

Pollen: Development and Physiology focuses on pollen physiology, with emphasis on the living pollen grains, their growth, and essential biological functions. Topics covered in this book include the role of nucleus and cytoplasm in microsporogenesis; the development of the pollen grain wall; the metabolism of pollen tubes; pistil-pollen interactions; and incompatibility. This monograph is comprised of 35 chapters divided into five sections. The first section explores the physiology and biochemistry of meiosis in the anther; changes in the cytoplasm and its organelles during microsporogenesis; and changes in cytoplasmic RNA and enzyme activity during the meiotic prophase in Cosmos bipinnatus. The next section is devoted to pollen development and the pollen grain wall and includes chapters that look at the role of the tapetum during microsporogenesis of angiosperms; dictyosome development during microsporogenesis in Canna generalis; and pollen grain and sperm cell ultrastructure in Beta. The remaining sections discuss the metabolism of pollen and pollen tubes; the interactions between pollen and pistil; and pollen size and incompatibility in Nicotiana. This text will be a valuable resource for plant physiologists.