DATE2025.06.20 #Press Releases

Unraveling the Mystery of Plant Steroid Hormones

— Brassinosteroids promote Pollen Tube Guidance —

Summary

A research group led by Kumi Matsuura-Tokita, Project Assistant Professor, and Tetsuya Higashiyama, Professor, at the School of Science, The University of Tokyo; Professor Takamasa Suzuki at Chubu University; Assistant Professor Yusuke Kimata and Professor Minako Ueda at Tohoku University; Yumiko Takebayashi, Technical Staff, and Hitoshi Sakakibara, Group Director (at the time of the study, currently Professor at Nagoya University) at RIKEN; Akihiko Nakano, Deputy Director of the Center for Advanced Photonics (at the time of the study, currently Visiting Professor at Tokyo University of Science and Visiting Chief Scientist at RIKEN); and Takeshi Nakano, Professor at Kyoto University, has demonstrated that Brassinosteroids promote pollen tube guidance.

Using a quantitative experimental approach to analyze the guidance of pollen tubes toward ovules, the research group discovered that the addition of brassinosteroids activates pollen tubes, making them respond more efficiently to guidance signals secreted from ovules.

Figure: Promotion of Pollen Tube Guidance by Plant Steroid Hormones

Journals

Journal name	Cell Reports
Title of paper	Brassinosteroids promote pollen tube guidance by coordinating gene expression in male and female reproductive tissues