...Brian C. W. Crawford; Martin F. Yanofsky Successful fertilization in angiosperms requires the growth of pollen tubes through the female reproductive tract as they seek out unfertilized ovules. In Arabidopsis , the reproductive tract begins with the stigma, where pollen grains initially adhere...

... essential for sexual development. In Hr39 mutant females, the sperm-storing spermathecae and glandular parovaria are absent or defective, causing sterility. Our results indicate that spermathecae and parovaria secrete reproductive tract proteins required for sperm maturation and function, like the mammalian...