Pollen Tubes: An Excellent Model
Pollen tubes are an excellent model for the understanding of plant cell behavior. They are easily cultivated in vitro and have a very dynamic cytoskeleton that polymerizes at very high rates, providing the pollen tube with interesting mechanical properties. The pollen tube has an unusual kind of growth; it extends exclusively at its apex. Extending the cell wall only at the tip minimizes friction between the tube and the invaded tissue. This tip growth is performed in a pulsating manner rather than in a steady fashion. Remarkably, the pollen tube’s journey through the style often results in depth-to-diameter ratios above 100:1 and up to 1000:1 in certain species, whereas classic mechanical drilling is often only effective up to 15:1 ratios. However, the internal machinery and the external interactions that govern the dynamics of pollen tube growth are far from being fully understood.
Read more about this topic: Pollen Tube
Famous quotes containing the words pollen, excellent and/or model:
“Everything was blamed on Castro. Mudslides in California. The fact that you can’t buy a decent tomato anymore. Was there an exceptionally high pollen count in Massapequa, Long Island, one day? It was Castro, exporting sneezes.”
—Calvin Trillin (b. 1935)
“This most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave
o’erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with
golden fire, why, it appeareth nothing to me but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The striking point about our model family is not simply the compete-compete, consume-consume style of life it urges us to follow.... The striking point, in the face of all the propaganda, is how few Americans actually live this way.”
—Louise Kapp Howe (b. 1934)