Germline development and seed set of metallophyte Biscutella laevigata L. (Brassicaceae).

• Heavy metals stress influences generative reproduction. • Abnormalities in the male and female lines development are costs of adaptation. • Seed production and population maintenance can be considered as a reproductive success. • Remodeling of pectins in the embryo cell wall could be a resistance/defense system. The costs of Biscutella laevigata adaptation, a facultative metallophyte, to an environment polluted with heavy metals were established by analyzing the differences in embryological processes between plants from two populations in Southern Poland (a mountain, in the Tatra Mountains and calamine, in Bolesław). Disturbances in male and female lineage development occurred in plants from both populations. The higher frequency of degenerations in plants from the calamine population could be interpreted as a strategy to save resources limited by the environment. The distribution of high-esterified homogalacturonan detected by LM20 antibody in the cell walls of embryos from the calamine population could be part of a resistance/defense system. The results from both populations indicate that B. laevigata has already developed adaptation/tolerance, enabling maintenance of the calamine population over time. Tolerant species could be an important source for revitalization and/or phytoremediation of polluted environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]