Microspore reprogramming to embryogenesis induces changes in cell wall and starch accumulation dynamics associated with proliferation and differentiation events.

Plant cell wall polymers are regulated during development, but the specific roles of their different molecular components and the functional meaning of cell wall changes in different cell types and cell processes are still unclear. In the present work the presence and distribution of different cell wall components in Capsicum annuum L. pollen have been analysed in situ in order to monitor how they change during two developmental programmes. These programmes are: pollen development, which is a differentiation process, and stress-induced pollen reprogramming to embryogenesis, which involves proliferation followed later by differentiation processes. Specific antibodies recognizing the major cell wall polymers, the major hemicellulose, xyloglucan (XG), the rhamnogalacturonan II (RGII) pectin domain, and high- and low-methyl-esterified pectins were used for both dot-blot and immunolocalization assays at light and electron microscopy levels during defined developmental stages. For comparison purposes, a similar...