Speaker: Alice Cheung, Distinguished Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst

Title: "Pollen-pistil interaction: a long and winding road to fertilization”

Abstract: In angiosperm reproduction, pollen tubes transport sperm as cytoplasmic cargoes over long distances within the pistil to deliver them to the female gametophytes located inside the ovules for fertilization. Multiple pollen-pistil interactive steps ensure pollen from favorable mates complete its task of sperm delivery but also maintain gating mechanisms to ward off pollen from undesirable mates. In the last decade, we have established that FERONIA and several related receptor kinases play crucial roles throughout the pollination and tube growth process. I shall discuss how mechanically several related cell surface signaling modules comprise of FERONIA or related receptor, its coreceptor a GPI-anchored protein and their ligand RALF peptides mediate reproductive success. I shall also discuss how FERONIA functions with the S-locus Receptor Kinase (SRK) to maintain intra- and interspecific barriers and how they might be mitigated.

Host: Hongqing (Michelle) Guo, assistant professor in genetics, development and cell biology