Isolation of Arabidopsis Pollen, Sperm Cells, and Vegetative Nuclei by Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting (FACS)

Efficient methods to isolate highly purified Arabidopsis thaliana pollen and the subcellular components of the male gametophyte (the vegetative nucleus and two sperm cells) have enabled genome-scale studies revealing a highly dynamic reprogramming of the transcriptome and epigenome during pollen development. Here, we describe the isolation of uninucleate microspores, mature pollen, as well as sperm cells and vegetative nuclei by Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting.