Sterols and Sphingolipids as New Players in Cell Wall Building and Apical Growth of Nicotiana tabacum L. Pollen Tubes.

ABSTRACT: Pollen tubes are tip-growing cells that create safe routes to convey sperm cells to the embryo sac for double fertilization. Recent studies have purified and biochemically characterized detergent-insoluble membranes from tobacco pollen tubes. These microdomains, called lipid rafts, are rich in sterols and sphingolipids and are involved in cell polarization in organisms evolutionarily distant, such as fungi and mammals. The presence of actin in tobacco pollen tube detergent-insoluble membranes and the preferential distribution of these domains on the apical plasma membrane encouraged us to formulate the intriguing hypothesis that sterols and sphingolipids could be a "trait d'union" between actin dynamics and polarized secretion at the tip. To unravel the role of sterols and sphingolipids in

SUBMITTER: Stroppa N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9824051 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature