Heat stress regimes for the investigation of pollen thermotolerance in crop plants

• Published in: Plant reproduction Vol. 29; no. 1-2; pp. 93 - 105
• Main Authors: Mesihovic, Anida, Iannacone, Rina, Firon, Nurit, Fragkostefanakis, Sotirios
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.06.2016; Springer
• Subjects: Agriculture; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cell Biology; Crops, Agricultural - physiology; Extreme weather; Food supply; Hot Temperature; Investigations; Life Sciences; Plant Sciences; Pollen - physiology; Pollen development and stress response; Review; Stress, Physiological; Thermotolerance; Crop; Anther; Pollen; Heat stress; Thermotolerance; Mild chronic
• ISSN: 2194-7953; 2194-7961
• DOI: 10.1007/s00497-016-0281-y

Key message Pollen thermotolerance . Global warming is predicted to increase the frequency and severity of extreme weather phenomena such as heat waves thereby posing a major threat for crop productivity and food security. The yield in case of most crop species is dependent on the success of reproductive development. Pollen development has been shown to be highly sensitive to elevated temperatures while the development of the female gametophyte as well as sporophytic tissues might also be disturbed under mild or severe heat stress conditions. Therefore, assessing pollen thermotolerance is currently of high interest for geneticists, plant biologists and breeders. A key aspect in pollen thermotolerance studies is the selection of the appropriate heat stress regime, the developmental stage that the stress is applied to, as well as the method of application. Literature search reveals a rather high variability in heat stress treatments mainly due to the lack of standardized protocols for different plant species. In this review, we summarize and discuss experimental approaches that have been used in various crops, with special focus on tomato, rice and wheat, as the best studied crops regarding pollen thermotolerance. The overview of stress treatments and the major outcomes of each study aim to provide guidelines for similar research in other crops.