Cell fusion 'eats up' the 'attractive cell' in flowering plants

Flowering plants naturally know when they need to spare or perish their cells. In a new study reported in Cell, an international group of plant biologists at ITbM, Nagoya University and other research institutes, have examined ...

Calcium and reproduction go together

Everyone's heard of the birds and the bees. But that old expression leaves out the flowers that are being fertilized. The fertilization process for flowering plants is particularly complex and requires extensive communication ...

Amber fossil reveals ancient reproduction in flowering plants

A 100-million-year old piece of amber has been discovered which reveals the oldest evidence of sexual reproduction in a flowering plant – a cluster of 18 tiny flowers from the Cretaceous Period – with one of them in the ...

Pistil leads pollen in life-and-death dance

Millions of times on a spring day there is a dramatic biomolecular tango where the flower, rather than adorning a dancer's teeth, is the performer. In this dance, the female pistil leads, the male pollen tubes follow, and ...

Microchip proves tightness provokes precocious sperm release

Sperm cell release can be triggered by tightening the grip around the delivery organ, according to a team of nano and microsystems engineers and plant biologists at the University of Montreal and Concordia University.

Mildew-resistant and infertile

Two proteins involved in powdery mildew infection in plants also play an important role in fertilization.

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