Giampiero Cai – författare

This volume serves as an indispensable guide for researchers, students, and professionals who wish to explore the intricate world of pollen biology and its modern methodologies. Chapters detail collecting, counting, storing pollen, artificial intelligence, pollen classification, flow cytometric analysis, pollen characteristics, multispectral imaging, pollen tube growth in stiff media and measuring self-incompatibility in plants, providing solutions and methodologies for these obstacles. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls.Comprehensive and cutting-edge, Pollen and Pollen Tube Analysis: Methods and Protocols represents a collaborative effort to advance the understanding of pollen biology using modern techniques and applications. This volume will serve as a valuable resource for those entering the fascinating field of pollen research.

Biotechnological methods are opening new ways in plant breeding. They allow novel strategies for improving crop productivity and quality, especially in the agrofood sector. The molecular mechanisms underlying these biotechnological approaches are presented here. Topics included are: pollen development, pollen tube growth, macrosporogenesis and fertilization and the effects of pesticides on sexual plant reproduction. Fertilization in higher plants is a complex process consisting of two events, the fusion of the egg with one sperm cell resulting in the diploid zygote, and the fusion of embryosac nuclei with another sperm cell, leading to a triploid endosperm. This "double fertilization" is preceded by the pollination process and a long lasting interaction between the dipoid pistil and the haploid pollen tube (progamic phase). Fertilization of flowering plants results in the formation of seeds and fruits, our basic food supply.