Secretory vesicles containing polysaccharide were isolated from germinated pollen of Lilium longiflorum and characterized by biochemical and ultrastructural investigation. Pollen tubes exhibit a secretory pathway in which the vesicles concentrated in the tube apex are produced by the Golgi apparatus and contributed to the cell wall at the apex upon fusion of the vesicle membrane with the plasma...

The cytoplasmic pH of growing pollen tubes of Lilium longiflorum Thunb. was measured using the pH-sensitive fluorescent dye 2',7'-bis-(carboxyethyl)-5(6')-carboxyfl uorescein and confocal fluorescence ratio imaging. The average cytoplasmic pH in the clear zone of the pollen tube tip was pH 7.11, and no consistent pH gradients were detected in the clear zone, averaging around -1.00 milli pH unit...