Editorial: Regulation of Pollen Tube Growth

Regulation of pollen tube growth

Regulation of Pollen Tube Growth by Transglutaminase.

In pollen tubes, cytoskeleton proteins are involved in many aspects of pollen germination and growth, from the transport of sperm cells to the asymmetrical distribution of organelles to the deposition of cell wall material. These activities are based on the dynamics of the cytoskeleton. Changes to both actin filaments and microtubules are triggered by specific proteins, resulting in different o...

Regulation of pollen tube growth by Rac-like GTPases.

Plant Rac-like GTPases have been classified phylogenetically into two major groups-class I and class II. Several pollen-expressed class I Rac-like GTPases have been shown to be important regulators of polar pollen tube growth. The functional participation by some of the class I and all of the class II Arabidopsis Rac-like GTPases in pollen tube growth remains to be explored. It is shown that at...

Ions and Pollen Tube Growth

Ions play a crucial role in the control of pollen tube growth. In this review we focus on four that seem especially important: calcium (Ca2+), protons (H+), potassium (K+), and chloride (Cl–). Ca2+ in the extracellular medium is essential for growth; it forms a steep intracellular tip-focused gradient, and exhibits a prominent extracellular tip-directed Ca2+ influx. pH is also essential for gro...

Pollen-specific pectin methylesterase involved in pollen tube growth.

Pollen tube elongation in the pistil is a crucial step in the sexual reproduction of plants. Because the wall of the pollen tube tip is composed of a single layer of pectin and, unlike most other plant cell walls, does not contain cellulose or callose, pectin methylesterases (PMEs) likely play a central role in the pollen tube growth and determination of pollen tube morphology. Thus, the functi...