Role of PCD in the reproductive biology of kiwifruit

Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa (kiwifruit) is a functionally dioecious species with a highly successful reproductive performance that is impaired by a short effective pollination period. Ferradás et al. look for features of programmed cell death (PCD) in the stigmatic arms and find that in the secretory tissues cell organelles disintegrate sequentially while progressive vacuolization is detected. At the same time, chromatin condensation, nuclear deformation and DNA fragmentation and degradation are observed. These features are are evident in pollinated flowers by the second day after anthesis, but only by 4 days after anthesis in non-pollinated flowers, which corresponds to the effective pollination period. The results indicate that PCD might be accelerated by pollination, suggesting its involvement during the progamic phase.