Figure 6

Premature dehiscence in stamens of jai1-1. (a) Osmolality in stamens of wild type and jai1-1 plants. (b) Occurrence of starch in anther tissues of wild type and jai1-1 plants. Sections of fresh stamens were stained with iodine potassium iodide resulting in a black and brownish coloration of amylose and amylopectin, respectively. Note the strong staining in stamen of wild type plants showing a high number of starch grains and high levels of amylopectin, whereas stamen of jai1-1 show only a few starch grains and almost no amylopectin. Bar represents 100 μm for all micrographs. (c) Relative water content in stamens of wild type and jai1-1. (d) Cross-sections of fresh stamens of the six developmental stages in wild type and jai1-1. Note the appearance of fluids in the locule of wild type stamen at stage 2 and 3 (arrow heads) being absent in jai1-1. In contrast, jai1-1 pollen appear whitish (arrows) at early developmental stages pointing to premature pollen desiccation and accumulation of desiccation-related substances. Mean values + SD of stamens of the developmental stages indicated are shown in (a) and (c). *P ≤0.05, ***P ≤0.001 according to Student’s t-test (n ≥ 8). SD, standard deviation.