Dynamic aspects of apical zonation in the angiosperm pollen tube

1990 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Heslop-Harrison ◽  
Y. Heslop-Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Pollen Tube ◽  
Angiosperm Pollen

Cytoskeletal Elements, Cell Shaping and Movement in the Angiosperm Pollen Tube

1988 ◽  
Vol 91 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. HESLOP-HARRISON ◽  
Y. HESLOP-HARRISON ◽  
M. CRESTI ◽  
A. TIEZZI ◽  
A. MOSCATELLI
Keyword(s):  
Pollen Tube ◽  
Shape Change ◽  
Generative Cell ◽  
Vegetative Nucleus ◽  
Microtubule Cytoskeleton ◽  
Tube Shape ◽  
Galanthus Nivalis ◽  
Angiosperm Pollen ◽  
Cytoskeletal Elements ◽  
Generative Cells

The ellipsoidal generative cell of the pollen grain of Endymion nonscriptus usually elongates further following germination and entry into the tube, producing attenuated extensions the forward one of which may reach into the vicinity of the vegetative nucleus. This shape change is accompanied by the stretching of the microtubule cytoskeleton of the cell, identified in the present work by immunofluorescence using monoclonal antibodies to tubulin. Complementary observations of living generative cells of Iris pseudacorus showed that they undergo slow undulatory movements accompanied by variation in shape and length during passage through the tube. Such changes must presumably be accompanied by modifications of the microtubule cytoskeleton. Colchicine at 1 mM eliminated microtubules from tubes and most generative cells of E. nonscriptus, but did not radically affect pollen-tube shape or extension growth, nor arrest the movements of the vegetative nucleus and generative cell into and through the tube. Generative cells in colchicinetreated pollen of Galanthus nivalis rounded up and failed to undergo the usual changes in shape during passage through the tube. Secondary consequences were changes in precedence in movement through the tube, and a greater dispersal along its length. On the assumption that no other cytoskeletal elements remain to be discovered, it seems likely that microfilaments rather than microtubules provide the motive force for movement in the tube, although the latter are involved in shaping the generative cell and adapting it to its passage.

scholarly journals Actin Bundles in The Pollen Tube

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (12) ◽  
pp. 3710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shujuan Zhang ◽  
Chunbo Wang ◽  
Min Xie ◽  
Jinyu Liu ◽  
Zhe Kong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pollen Tube ◽  
Tip Growth ◽  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
Embryo Sac ◽  
Pollen Tubes ◽  
Growth Strategy ◽  
Regulation Mechanism ◽  
Actin Bundles ◽  
Angiosperm Pollen ◽  
Plant Pollen

The angiosperm pollen tube delivers two sperm cells into the embryo sac through a unique growth strategy, named tip growth, to accomplish fertilization. A great deal of experiments have demonstrated that actin bundles play a pivotal role in pollen tube tip growth. There are two distinct actin bundle populations in pollen tubes: the long, rather thick actin bundles in the shank and the short, highly dynamic bundles near the apex. With the development of imaging techniques over the last decade, great breakthroughs have been made in understanding the function of actin bundles in pollen tubes, especially short subapical actin bundles. Here, we tried to draw an overall picture of the architecture, functions and underlying regulation mechanism of actin bundles in plant pollen tubes.

scholarly journals Myosin associated with the surfaces of organelles, vegetative nuclei and generative cells in angiosperm pollen grains and tubes

1989 ◽  
Vol 94 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-325
Author(s):  
J. HESLOP-HARRISON ◽  
Y. HESLOP-HARRISON
Keyword(s):  
Pollen Tube ◽  
Pollen Grains ◽  
Giant Cells ◽  
Pollen Tubes ◽  
Microfilament Bundles ◽  
Hyacinthus Orientalis ◽  
Actin Fibrils ◽  
Angiosperm Pollen ◽  
Muscle Myosin ◽  
Generative Cells

Myosin, detected by immunofluorescence using an antibody to bovine skeletal and smooth muscle myosin, has been localised on individual identifiable organelles from the grasses Alopecurus pratensis and Secale cereale, and on the surfaces of vegetative nuclei and generative cells from pollen and pollen tubes of Hyacinthus orientalis and Helleborus foetidus. Taken in conjunction with recent evidence showing that the growing pollen tube contains an actin cytoskeleton consisting of numerous mainly longitudinally oriented microfilament bundles, and that isolated pollen-tube organelles show ATP-dependent movement along the actin bundles of the giant cells of the characeous algae, this finding suggests that an actomyosin motility system is present in pollen tubes, and indicates that the movements of the different classes of inclusions are driven by interaction of the surface myosin with the actin fibrils at the zones of contact.

Conformation and movement of the vegetative nucleus of the angiosperm pollen tube: association with the actin cytoskeleton

1989 ◽  
Vol 93 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-308
Author(s):  
J. HESLOP-HARRISON ◽  
Y. HESLOP-HARRISON
Keyword(s):  
Pollen Tube ◽  
Actin Cytoskeleton ◽  
Nuclear Envelope ◽  
Vegetative Cell ◽  
Cytochalasin D ◽  
Vegetative Nucleus ◽  
Continuous Change ◽  
Cytoplasmic Bodies ◽  
Angiosperm Pollen ◽  
Rapid Contraction

Actin is present in the cytoplasm of the vegetative cell of angiosperm pollens in numerous fusiform, spiculate or toroidal bodies, and also as a sheath enveloping the vegetative nucleus. During activation following hydration, the compact cytoplasmic bodies are translated into skeins of extended fibrils, and circulatory movements begin in the cytoplasm. Throughout this period the vegetative nucleus, with fibrillar actin now associated with the surface, undergoes a continuous change of shape. In the extending tube following germination the actin cytoskeleton consists of numerous mainly longitudinally oriented fibrils. After entry into the tube the vegetative nucleus remains associated with the fibrils, usually extending greatly in length and developing attenuated, often pointed extensions. The observed conformations, which change continuously, suggest that varying local tensions are applied to the vegetative nucleus during passage through the tube. Cytochalasin D breaks up the actin fibril system and brings about a rapid contraction of the nucleus, at the same time eliminating the elastic extensions of the nuclear envelope. Nuclei isolated physically from unfixed tubes also contract in length as the fibrillar components of the cytoskeleton are detached. These findings indicate that the movement of the vegetative nucleus depends on local associations of the nuclear envelope with the actin cytoskeleton of the vegetative cell.

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