Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Perturbation Analysis of Calcium, Alkalinity and Secretion during Growth of Lily Pollen Tubes

Version 1 : Received: 31 October 2016 / Approved: 1 November 2016 / Online: 1 November 2016 (05:25:42 CET)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Winship, L.J.; Rounds, C.; Hepler, P.K. Perturbation Analysis of Calcium, Alkalinity and Secretion during Growth of Lily Pollen Tubes. Plants 2017, 6, 3. Winship, L.J.; Rounds, C.; Hepler, P.K. Perturbation Analysis of Calcium, Alkalinity and Secretion during Growth of Lily Pollen Tubes. Plants 2017, 6, 3.

Abstract

Pollen tubes grow by spatially and temporally regulated expansion of new material secreted into the cell wall at the tip of the tube. A complex web of interactions among cellular components, ions and small molecule provides dynamic control of localized expansion and secretion. Cross-correlation studies on oscillating lily (Lilium formosanum Wallace) pollen tubes showed that an increase in intracellular calcium follows an increase in growth, whereas the increase in the alkaline band and in secretion both anticipate the increase in growth rate. Calcium, as a follower, is unlikely to be a stimulator of growth, whereas the alkaline band, as a leader, may be an activator. To gain further insight herein we reversibly inhibited growth with potassium cyanide (KCN), and followed the re-establishment of calcium, pH and secretion patterns as growth resumed. While KCN markedly slows growth and causes the associated gradients of calcium and pH to sharply decline, its removal allows growth and vital processes to fully recover. The calcium gradient reappears before growth restarts, however it is preceded by both the alkaline band and secretion, in which the alkaline band is slightly advanced over secretion. Thus the pH gradient, rather than the tip-focused calcium gradient, may regulate pollen tube growth.

Keywords

calcium; protons; exocytosis; tip growth; Lilium; pollen; respiration; perturbation analysis

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Plant Sciences

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