Tracing the origins of male germline specification in plants

Fertility is an essential concern for society because of its importance for human reproduction, cattle farming and quality of crops. Funding research on the development of plant sperm has been rather limited despite the importance to control pollen quality for crop yield and the adverse effect of pollen on human health. This proposal aims to unravel the mechanisms that control the initial steps of pollen development. The research scheme is based on a deep collaboration between the Berger Lab at GMI in Vienna and the Kohchi Lab at Kyoto University. We will use state-of-the-art genomic methods to establish key knowledge in molecular mechanisms and evolutionary origin of sperm development in plants ranging from mosses to flowering plants.

Fertility is an essential concern for society because of its importance for human reproduction, cattle farming and quality of crops. Funding research on the development of plant sperm has been rather limited in spite of the importance to control pollen quality for crop yield and the adverse effect of pollen on human health. This proposal unraveled the mechanisms that control plant reproduction. The research scheme was based on a deep collaboration between the Berger Lab at GMI in Vienna and the Kohchi Lab at Kyoto University. Using state-of-the-art genomic methods we establish key knowledge on molecular mechanisms and evolutionary origin of sex determination and sperm development in plants ranging from mosses to flowering plants. This indicated mechanisms that provides a memory of environment applicable to crops.