We examined the development of the endosperm chalazal haustorium of Rhinanthus serotinus, using histochemical assays and light and electron microscopy. The chalazal haustorium is a huge single cell containing two enlarged nuclei. The nuclei are located in the middle of the haustorium cell. At the chalazal end of the haustorium cell structure, ultrastructural study revealed the presence of a transfer wall forming wall ingrowths. At all examined stages of haustorium cell development we identified insoluble polysaccharides, proteins, nucleic acids and lipid droplets. Macromolecules were especially abundant in the fully differentiated haustorium cell. Our results suggest that the endosperm chalazal haustorium is a site of intense metabolic activity

We studied the embryology of Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal by light microscopy in order to reveal specific embryological features of the genus, and compared the results with embryological data on other members of the family Solanaceae. The key embryological characters of W. somnifera include dicotyledonous-type anther wall formation, simultaneous cytokinesis in pollen mother cells, binucleate tapetal cells, 2-celled mature pollen, anatropous, tenuinucellate and unitegmic ovules, polygonum-type embryo sac formation, the presence of an endothelium, and cellular endosperm formation. We give the first report of the dicotyledonous mode of anther wall formation (previously described as basic type) for the species. Comparative study suggests that anther wall formation, number of nuclei in tapetal cells, number of cells in mature pollen, mode of embryo sac formation and endosperm development are the most variable embryological features in Solanaceae. Some of these embryological features of W. somnifera should be of value for comparative study of related species and their phylogenetic relationships within the family.

In flowering plants, seeds are produced both sexually (double fertilization is required) and asexually via apomixis (meiotic reduction and egg fertilization are omitted). An apomictic-like pattern of endosperm development in planta is followed by fis mutants of sexual Arabidopsis thaliana. In our experiments in planta, autonomous endosperm (AE) developed in met1 mutants. Furthermore we obtained autonomous endosperm formation in vitro not only in unfertilized ovules of fie mutants but also in wild genotypes (Col-0, MET1/MET1, FIE/FIE) and met1 mutants. AE induction and development occurred in all genotypes on the each of the media used and in every trial. The frequency of AE was relatively high (51.2% ovaries) and genotype-dependent. AE induced in vitro represents a more advanced stage of development than AE induced in fie mutants in planta. This was manifested by a high number of nuclei surrounded by cytoplasm and organized in nuclear cytoplasmic domains (NCDs), nodule formation, division into characteristic regions, and cellularization. The high frequency of AE observed in homozygous met1 (met1/met1) mutants probably is due to accumulation of hypomethylation as an effect of the met1 mutation and the in vitro conditions. AE development was most advanced in FIE/fie mutants. We suggest that changes in the methylation of one or several genes in the DNA of Arabidopsis genotypes caused by in vitro conditions resulted in AE induction and/or further AE development.