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Background  Pectins are a group of structurally complex plant cell wall polysaccharides whose biosynthesis and function remain poorly understood. The pectic polysaccharide rhamnogalacturonan-I (RG-I) has two types of arabinogalactan side chains, type-I and type-II arabinogalactans. To date few enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of pectin have been described. Here we report the identification of a highly conserved putative glycosyltransferase encoding gene,  Pectic ArabinoGalactan synthesis-Related  ( PAGR ), affecting the biosynthesis of RG-I arabinogalactans and critical for pollen tube growth.    Results  T-DNA insertions in  PAGR  were identified in  Arabidopsis thaliana  and were found to segregate at a 1:1 ratio of heterozygotes to wild type. We were unable to isolate homozygous  pagr  mutants as  pagr  mutant alleles were not transmitted via pollen.  In vitro  pollen germination assays revealed reduced rates of pollen tube formation in pollen from  pagr  heterozygotes. To characterize a loss-of-function phenotype for  PAGR,  the  Nicotiana benthamiana  orthologs,  NbPAGR-A  and  B,  were transiently silenced using Virus Induced Gene Silencing.  NbPAGR- silenced plants exhibited reduced internode and petiole expansion. Cell wall materials from  NbPAGR -silenced plants had reduced galactose content compared to the control. Immunological and linkage analyses support that RG-I has reduced type-I arabinogalactan content and reduced branching of the RG-I backbone in  NbPAGR- silenced plants. Arabidopsis lines overexpressing PAGR exhibit pleiotropic developmental phenotypes and the loss of apical dominance as well as an increase in RG-I type-II arabinogalactan content.    Conclusions  Together, results support a function for  PAGR  in the biosynthesis of RG-I arabinogalactans and illustrate the essential roles of these polysaccharides in vegetative and reproductive plant growth.    Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12870-016-0780-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A DUF-246 family glycosyltransferase-like gene affects male fertility and the biosynthesis of pectic arabinogalactans