RNA-Seq of Olea europaea L. cv. Picual pollen in vitro germination and pollen tube growth

Olea europaea L. cv. Picual pollen samples were collected in paper bags from olive trees located at the Estación Experimental del Zaidín (CSIC, Granada, Spain) during anthesis. Pollen samples were rehydrated in a humid chamber for 30 min at 30ºC and transferred to a synthetic germination medium (10 mL per 0.1 g pollen) containing 10% (w/v) sucrose, 0.03% (w/v) Ca(NO3)2, 0.01% (w/v) KNO3, 0.02% (w/v) MgSO4 and 0.01% (w/v) boric acid, and incubated at 25ºC in the dark. Pollen samples were taken just after rehydration and at different times of germination (1, 3 and 6 h). Total RNA was extracted using a RNeasy Plant Total RNA Kit (Quiagen, USA) according to the manufacturer's instructions. Three replicates for each sample were sequenced in an Illumina NextSeq 550 sequencer.