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Nitric oxide and hydrogen peroxide involvement during programmed cell death of Sechium edule nucellus
Author(s) -
Lombardi Lara,
Ceccarelli Nello,
Picciarelli Piero,
Sorce Carlo,
Lorenzi Roberto
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
physiologia plantarum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.351
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1399-3054
pISSN - 0031-9317
DOI - 10.1111/j.1399-3054.2010.01381.x
Subject(s) - ovule , endosperm , programmed cell death , nitric oxide , microbiology and biotechnology , hydrogen peroxide , biology , embryo , apoptosis , botany , caspase , biochemistry , endocrinology
The nucellus is a maternal tissue that feeds the developing embryo and the secondary endosperm. During seed development the cells of the nucellus suffer a degenerative process early after fertilization as the cellular endosperm expands and accumulates reserves. Nucellar cell degeneration has been characterized as a form of developmentally programmed cell death (PCD). In this work we show that nucellus PCD is accompanied by a considerable production of both nitric oxide and hydrogen peroxide (NO and H 2 O 2 ). Interestingly, each of the two molecules is able to induce the production of the other and to cause cell death when applied to a living nucellus. We show that the induced cell death has features of a PCD, accompanied by profound changes in the morphology of the nuclei and by a massive degradation of nuclear DNA. Moreover, we report that NO and H 2 O 2 cause an induction of caspase‐like proteases previously characterized in physiological nucellar PCD.