Cytological and Molecular Characteristics of Pollen Abortion in Lily with Dysplastic Tapetum

Abstract Lily was grown worldwide as a fresh cutting flower because of its colorful petals, but its anther contained a large number of pollen grains that cause serious pollen contamination, however, pollen abortion can effectively reduce the level of pollen pollution. Our analysis aims to use cytological observation to detect the critical stage when pollen abortion occurs and to provide comprehensive gene expression information at the transcriptional level. The result showed that pollen abortion in ‘Little Kiss’ began at the mononuclear stage and the callose that covers the microspores failed to degenerate when young pollens were released from the tetrads. In addition, compared with the normally developed one, the tapetum of ‘Little Kiss’ degraded in advance while the degradation of callose was delayed. Furthermore, 103 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to the advance degeneration of tapetum cells and callose were found in the expression levels, including 22 transcription factors (TFs). In particular, two β-glucanase genes (endo-1,3(4)-β-glucanase, exo-β-glucanase) responsible for callose degeneration were significantly down-regulated. These results suggested that pollen abortion may occur at mononuclear stage and that early degeneration of tapetum cells resulted in a significant down-regulation of β-glucanase genes. As a result, the callose to cover microspores impedes the formation of pollen walls, which may possibly lead to pollen abortion.