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IS PINE (PINUS DENSIFLORA) POLLEN ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF POTASSIUM ACCUMULATION AT SULCUS AREA?

SHAFIQ REHMAN¹*, MUHAMMAD JAMIL², EUI SHIK RHA³, MUHAMMAD ASHRAF⁴ AND SONG JOONG YUN⁵

Abstract: Microscopic studies revealed that pine (Pinus densiflora) pollen grain body consists of a pair of air sacs and has a narrow sulcus (furrow) between two sacs. It is suggested that hydration and emergence of pollen tube take place through this furrow. Macallum’s staining solution, energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and confocal laser microscopy using PBFI provide convincing evidence that potassium is concentrated only in the sulcus area of pollen grains. These results demonstrate that the consistent appearance of potassium at the sulcus area of pine pollen may regulate water uptake. Moreover, these results support the idea that the potassium accumulation at the aperture area may be a general pattern in all kinds of pollen grains.

¹Department of Botany, Kohat University of Science & Technology (KUST), Kohat 26000, Pakistan
²Department of Biotechnology, Kohat University of Science and Technology (KUST) Kohat 26000, Pakistan
³College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Sunchon National University, Suncheon 540-742, Republic of Korea
⁴Department of Botany, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan
⁵Division of Biological Resources Science, College of Agriculture and Life Science, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, 561-756, Republic of Korea.