Fertilization articles within Nature Communications

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pollen tube growth is guided towards ovules. Here the authors show that a bHLH transcriptional factor CsALC functions in pollen tube emergence towards ovules to regulate female fertility in cucumber and promotes the expression of two rapid alkalinization factors CsRALF4/19 in the ovary.

    • Zhihua Cheng
    • , Xiaofeng Liu
    •  & Xiaolan Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Synergid cells undergo programmed cell death following pollen tube reception and successful fertilization. Here the authors show that premature synergid cell death is prevented by the mitogen activated protein kinase MPK4 and the R protein SUMM2 which maintain ROS homeostasis in Arabidopsis.

    • Ronny Völz
    • , William Harris
    •  & Yong-Hwan Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nitrogen deficiency can cause floral abortion during reproductive development of rice. Here the authors show that when nitrogen is limited, rice plants require the ETFβ protein, which is involved in branched chain amino acid catabolism, to promote nitrogen reutilization and support the initiation of meiosis.

    • Han Yang
    • , Yafei Li
    •  & Zhukuan Cheng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    HAP2 is essential for gamete fusion during fertilization and is conserved among eukaryotes. Here the authors show that species-specific adhesion between Chlamydomonas plus and minus gametes initiates HAP2 to undergo a fusogenic conformational change into homotrimers via a molecular mechanism akin to that of enveloped viruses.

    • Jun Zhang
    • , Jennifer F. Pinello
    •  & William J. Snell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Small RNAs act to regulate gene or transposon activity during plant development. Here, the authors show that maize Dicer-like 5 is required for 24-nt phased, secondary small interfering RNA production in anthers and that dicer-like 5 mutants show abnormal tapetal development and temperature-sensitive sterility.

    • Chong Teng
    • , Han Zhang
    •  & Virginia Walbot

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Our limited understanding of the hybrid sterility (HS) mechanism in Asian–African rice hybrids hampers utilization of the interspecific heterosis for rice production. Here, the authors identify S1-mediated HS-related tripartite gamete killer-protector system, and explore their evolutionary relationship.

    • Yongyao Xie
    • , Jintao Tang
    •  & Letian Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The origin and evolution of separate sexes in plants are long-standing questions. Here, the authors use genus-wide sequencing to identify sex determining candidate genes in the genus Phoenix and demonstrate the consistence with the previously proposed two-mutation model.

    • Maria F. Torres
    • , Lisa S. Mathew
    •  & Joel A. Malek

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The fertilization of an egg by more than one sperm is typically lethal. Here, via a novel reporter assay, Nakel et al. report the generation of triparental triploid Arabidopsis plants, implying that polyspermy is a plausible route toward polyploidy during plant evolution.

    • Thomas Nakel
    • , Dawit G. Tekleyohans
    •  & Rita Groß-Hardt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fertilization involves species-specific interaction and eventually fusion of two gametic cells, and calcium signalling plays a key role in this process. Here, the authors monitor the changes in intracellular calcium that take place during fertilization of flowering plants and point to specific signatures associated with specific steps of the process.

    • Philipp Denninger
    • , Andrea Bleckmann
    •  & Guido Grossmann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Intracellular calcium waves are key signalling elements during the fertilization process of animals, involved in egg activation. Here the authors image calcium oscillations during the fertilization process in flowering plants, revealing specific signatures involved in the success of this process.

    • Yuki Hamamura
    • , Moe Nishimaki
    •  & Tetsuya Higashiyama

Browse broader subjects

Browse Fertilization across other nature.com journals