Project description:Pollen development is one of the most heat-sensitive developmental stages in a wide range of crops. Our longer-term goal is to understand the mechanism how starch metabolism in maturing pollen grains of the Solanaceae family contributes to maintaining higher pollen quality under heat-stress conditions. The specific aim of the suggested proposal is to characterize N. sylvestris WT and mutant (starch-deficient) transcriptomes during microgametogenesis under ambient and heat-stress conditions. Expression profiles of maturing microspores derived from flower buds at developmental stage of 4 to 2 days before flower opening will be obtained. Pollen was derived from WT and mutant plants exposed to either ambient or heat-stress conditions (exposing the plants to 45oC for 2.5 hours). Keywords: Loop design