Understanding pollen tube growth: the hydrodynamic model versus the cell wall model

• Published in: Trends in plant science Vol. 16; no. 7; pp. 347 - 352
• Main Authors: Zonia, Laura, Munnik, Teun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2011; [Kidlington, Oxford, UK]: Elsevier Science Ltd; Elsevier
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; cell growth; Cell Wall - physiology; cell walls; evolution; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hydrodynamics; mechanical properties; Models, Biological; pectins; Plant Cells; Plant physiology and development; pollen; Pollen Tube - growth & development; Sexual reproduction; Vegetative and sexual reproduction, floral biology, fructification; Hydrodynamic model; Plant sciences; Modeling; Pollen tube; Cell wall
• ISSN: 1360-1385; 1878-4372
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2011.03.009

Scientific progress stimulates the evolution of models used to understand and conceptualize biological behaviors. The widely accepted cell wall model of pollen tube growth explains stochastic growth of the apical pectin wall, but fails to explain the mechanism driving oscillations in growth and cell signaling. Recent advances led to the formulation of a new hydrodynamic model that explains the mechanism that drives both stochastic and oscillatory growth, as well as oscillations in cell signaling and ion fluxes. A critical analysis of evidence that has been used to challenge the validity of the hydrodynamic model yields new information on turgor pressure, cell mechanical properties and nonlinear dynamics in pollen tube growth. These results may have broader significance for plant cell growth.