Abstract
Pollen grains are central to sexual plant reproduction and their viability and longevity/storage are critical for plant physiology, ecology, plant breeding, and many plant product industries. Our goal is to present progress in assessing pollen viability/longevity along with recent advances in our understanding of the intrinsic and environmental factors that determine pollen performance: the capacity of the pollen grain to be stored, germinate, produce a pollen tube, and fertilize the ovule. We review current methods to measure pollen viability, with an eye toward advancing basic research and biotechnological applications. Importantly, we review recent advances in our understanding of how basic aspects of pollen/stigma development, pollen molecular composition, and intra- and intercellular signaling systems interact with the environment to determine pollen performance. Our goal is to point to key questions for future research, especially given that climate change will directly impact pollen viability/longevity. We find that the viability and longevity of pollen are highly sensitive to environmental conditions that affect complex interactions between maternal and paternal tissues and internal pollen physiological events. As pollen viability and longevity are critical factors for food security and adaptation to climate change, we highlight the need to develop further basic research for better understanding the complex molecular mechanisms that modulate pollen viability and applied research on develo** new methods to maintain or improve pollen viability and longevity.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Julie Grivotte (University of Rouen Normandy), a bachelor student for her valuable help in dissecting anthers from flowers and SEM image acquisition, just after the end of the COVID lockdown.
Funding
This work was supported by the University of Rouen Normandy for JCM and by the University of Toulouse and Toulouse INP for ET, RAA, and CC and the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation. MAJ and RAA were also supported by grants from the US National Science Foundation (IOS-1939255) and the US Department of Agriculture (2020–67013-30907).
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Althiab-Almasaud, R., Teyssier, E., Chervin, C. et al. Pollen viability, longevity, and function in angiosperms: key drivers and prospects for improvement. Plant Reprod (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00497-023-00484-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00497-023-00484-5