Intersection of two signalling pathways: extracellular nucleotides regulate pollen germination and pollen tube growth via nitric oxide.

ABSTRACT: Plant and animal cells release or secrete ATP by various mechanisms, and this activity allows extracellular ATP to serve as a signalling molecule. Recent reports suggest that extracellular ATP induces plant responses ranging from increased cytosolic calcium to changes in auxin transport, xenobiotic resistance, pollen germination, and growth. Although calcium has been identified as a secondary messenger for the extracellular ATP signal, other parts of this signal transduction chain remain unknown. Increasing the extracellular concentration of ATPgammaS, a poorly-hydrolysable ATP analogue, inhibited both pollen germination and pollen tube elongation, while the addition of AMPS had no effect. Because pollen tube elongation is also sensitive to nitric oxide, this raised the possibility that a

SUBMITTER: Reichler SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2682505 | biostudies-literature | 2009

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature