[The ultrastructural study of synergids before and after fertilization in watermelon embryo sacs]

The ultrastructure of synergids of watermelon (Citrullus Lanatus L.) was investigated using transmission electron microscopy at following stages of embryo sacs: 1. Unpollination, on the first flowering day. 2. Unpollination, on 2nd day after anthesis (DAA). 3. Fertilization, on DAA 2. The synergids with distinct filiform apparatus at the micropylar end have abundant organelle, such as mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, and plastids in cytoplasm, which indicate that they are active on the first flowering day. No wall is present at the chalazal part of synergid, and there are some flocculent materials and vesicles in the spaces of cytoplasma membranes among synergid, egg cell and central cell in embryo sacs at the first and the second stages. On DAA 2, in unpollinated embryo sacs, the central large vacuole of synergid is divided into several smaller ones and the starch grains decrease in cytoplasm. There is no newly synthesized wall at the chalazal end of persistent synergid in fertilized embryo sacs. The contents of degenerated synergid, in the form of electron dense granules, are located in the wide space among central cell, zygote and persistent synergid, and some of them migrate into central cell through cytoplasma membrane. Therefore, it is deduced that the contents of synergid might serve as a nutrient supplement to the development of endosperm, but not embryo.