Storage lipids in developing and germinating pollen grain of flowering plants

Abstract

In plants, storage lipids serve as energy source and provide carbon equivalents for periods of active metabolism. They can be stored in different sporophytic organs and tissues usually in the form of triacylglycerols (TAGs), which are non-polar and can be stored in a nearly anhydrous form. Plants accumulate the storage lipids in specialized organelles called oil bodies (OBs), lipid bodies, lipid droplets or oil globules. Mature pollen grain of oleaginous plants present copious oil bodies in the vegetative cytoplasm. However, little is known about the behavior, breakdown and role of these cellular structures in processes directly connected to sexual plant reproduction. Up to now, data on storage lipids biology in pollen were rather few and fragmentary. The aim of this review is to sum up and verify the current knowledge on pollen grain OBs as well as to expose the signifi cance of further studies on physiological and molecular nature of storage lipids in reproductive biology of angiosperms.