Establishment of a novel method for the identification of fertilization defective mutants in Arabidopsis thaliana

Abstract Plant reproduction is an extremely important phenomenon, as it is strongly associated with plant genetics and early development. Additionally, foundations of the reproductive system have direct implications on plant breeding and agriculture. Investigation of the functions of male and female gametophytes is critical since their fusion is required for seed formation. Although a large number of mutants have been generated to understand the functions of male and female gametophytes, only a small number of genes required for plant fertilization have been identified to date. This is because the screening method used previously required the dissection of siliques, and fertilization-specific mutants exhibiting semi-fertility (or ∼50% fertility) were difficult to identify. Here, we report a new efficient screening method for the identification of fertilization defective mutants in Arabidopsis thaliana using vanillin staining. This method is based on the pollen tube-dependent ovule enlargement morphology (POEM) phenomenon, which generates a partial seed coat within the ovule without fertilization. Using this method, we successfully identified 23 putative fertilization defective mutants in Arabidopsis.