Female Germline Formation During Plant Development

Abstract

Plant reproduction is a highly regulated process involving multiple developmental stages crucial for giving rise to the next generation of plants. Many different industries rely on plant reproduction to produce viable, high quality seed that is utilised for different processes such as brewing, human food consumption and animal feed. One of the vital processes in reproduction is the formation of a female germline in the ovule, which is fertilised to later form the seed. Studies have highlighted multiple pathways and key genes that regulate ovule development, for example, small RNA pathways and transcriptional regulators. However, identifying how these regulators and their targets interact, has largely yet to be determined. In particular, a lack of knowledge regarding the genic targets of pathways involved in the specification of the female germline, and the repression of germline identity in surrounding somatic cells, represents a gap in knowledge and an opportunity for further understanding sexual reproduction in plants. The model organism for plant development, Arabidopsis thaliana, provides an abundance of resources for investigating the female germline during plant reproduction. A component of this is the availability of useful marker lines that are specific to the germline. The aims of this project were to investigate and characterise molecular and genetic requirements that promote the formation of the germline (megasporogenesis) and its subsequent development (megagametogenesis) in sexual reproduction.