Cell Biological Analyses of Anther Morphogenesis and Pollen Viability in Arabidopsis and Rice

Major advances have been made in our understanding of anther developmental processes in flowering plants through a combination of genetic studies, cell biological technologies, biochemical analyses, microarray and high-throughput sequencing-based approaches. In this chapter, we summarize widely used protocols for pollen viability staining, investigation of anther morphogenesis by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), light microscopy of semi-thin sections, ultrathin section-based transmission electron microscopy (TEM), TUNEL (terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated 2'-deoxyuridine 5'-triphosphate (dUTP) nick end labeling) assay for tapetum programmed cell death, and laser microdissection procedures to obtain specific cells or cell layers for transcriptome analysis.