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Involvement of calmodulin in pollen germination and pollen tube growth

Gong Ming, Yang Zhonghan, Cao Zongxun(Tsao T H)

Department of Biology, Peking University. Beijing

Abstract

Calmodulin from both bovine brain and maize germs significantly promoted pollen germination and tube growth of Pinus yunnanensis and Nicotiana tabacum; CaM antagonists TFP and CPZ, and two other more specific drugs, W_(7) and compound 48/80, inhibited or stopped pollen germination and tube growth; while W_(5), a less active analogue of W_(7), had little effect. The inhibitory effects of W_(7)could be abolished partially or totally by exogenous CaM. In addition, the CaM content in pine pollen increased significantly during pollen germination and reached a maximum when the percentage of germinated pollen was near its maximum.

Key words: Calmodulin;CaM antagonists;CaM content;Pollen germination

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Citing This Article：

Gong Ming, Yang Zhonghan, Cao Zongxun(Tsao T H). Involvement of calmodulin in pollen germination and pollen tube growth. Acta Physiol Sin 1994; 46 (3): (in Chinese with English abstract).