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Fertilized egg cells secrete endopeptidases to avoid polytubey

Author

Listed:
  • Xiaobo Yu

    (Wuhan University)

  • Xuecheng Zhang

    (Wuhan University)

  • Peng Zhao

    (Wuhan University)

  • Xiongbo Peng

    (Wuhan University)

  • Hong Chen

    (Wuhan University)

  • Andrea Bleckmann

    (University of Regensburg)

  • Anastasiia Bazhenova

    (University of Regensburg)

  • Ce Shi

    (Wuhan University)

  • Thomas Dresselhaus

    (University of Regensburg)

  • Meng-xiang Sun

    (Wuhan University)

Abstract

Upon gamete fusion, animal egg cells secrete proteases from cortical granules to establish a fertilization envelope as a block to polyspermy1–4. Fertilization in flowering plants is more complex and involves the delivery of two non-motile sperm cells by pollen tubes5,6. Simultaneous penetration of ovules by multiple pollen tubes (polytubey) is usually avoided, thus indirectly preventing polyspermy7,8. How plant egg cells regulate the rejection of extra tubes after successful fertilization is not known. Here we report that the aspartic endopeptidases ECS1 and ECS2 are secreted to the extracellular space from a cortical network located at the apical domain of the Arabidopsis egg cell. This reaction is triggered only after successful fertilization. ECS1 and ECS2 are exclusively expressed in the egg cell and transcripts are degraded immediately after gamete fusion. ECS1 and ESC2 specifically cleave the pollen tube attractor LURE1. As a consequence, polytubey is frequent in ecs1 ecs2 double mutants. Ectopic secretion of these endopeptidases from synergid cells led to a decrease in the levels of LURE1 and reduced the rate of pollen tube attraction. Together, these findings demonstrate that plant egg cells sense successful fertilization and elucidate a mechanism as to how a relatively fast post-fertilization block to polytubey is established by fertilization-induced degradation of attraction factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaobo Yu & Xuecheng Zhang & Peng Zhao & Xiongbo Peng & Hong Chen & Andrea Bleckmann & Anastasiia Bazhenova & Ce Shi & Thomas Dresselhaus & Meng-xiang Sun, 2021. "Fertilized egg cells secrete endopeptidases to avoid polytubey," Nature, Nature, vol. 592(7854), pages 433-437, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:592:y:2021:i:7854:d:10.1038_s41586-021-03387-5
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03387-5
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    Cited by:

    1. Keyi Chen & Qiming Wang & Xiaowen Yu & Chaolong Wang & Junwen Gao & Shihao Zhang & Siqi Cheng & Shimin You & Hai Zheng & Jiayu Lu & Xufei Zhu & Dekun Lei & Anqi Jian & Xiaodong He & Hao Yu & Yun Chen , 2024. "OsSRF8 interacts with OsINP1 and OsDAF1 to regulate pollen aperture formation in rice," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.

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