Chinese Bulletin of Botany ›› 2007, Vol. 24 ›› Issue (03): 340-354.

Special Issue: 生殖生物学专辑 (2007年24卷3期)

• 特邀综述 • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Structure of the Pollen Tube and the Mechanism of Tip Growth

Xiaohua Wang, Huaiqing Hao, Qinli Wang, Maozhong Zheng, Jinxing Lin   

  1. Key Laboratory of Plant Photosynthesis and Molecular Environment Physiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100093, China
  • Received:2007-01-08 Revised:2007-02-02 Online:2007-05-01 Published:2007-05-01
  • Contact: Jinxing Lin

Abstract: The pollen tube is the polarized tip-growing system that involves a complicated kinetic process essential for sexual reproduction in higher plants. The process of pollen tube growth involves many aspects, especially the dynamics of the cytoskeleton and cytoplasmic movement. The present paper reviews the structure of the pollen tube, cytoskeleton, and vesicles, as well as mitochondria trafficking and vesicle recycling in pollen tubes.