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Directional Guidance of Nicotiana alata
Pollen Tubes
in Vitro and on the Stigma1
W. Mary Lush*,
Franz Grieser, and
Mieke Wolters-Arts
Plant Cell Biology Research Centre, School of Botany (W.M.L.), and
School of Chemistry (F.G.), University of Melbourne, Parkville,
Victoria 3052, Australia; and University of Melbourne, Parkville,
Victoria 3052, AustraliaDepartment of Experimental Botany,
University of Nijmegen, Toernooiveld 1, 6525 Nijmegen, The Netherlands
(M.W.-A.)
Pollen tubes navigate the route from
stigma to ovule with great accuracy, but the cues that guide them along
this route are not known. We reproduced the environment on the stigma
of Nicotiana alata by immersing pollen in stigma exudate
or oil close to an interface with an aqueous medium. The growth of
pollen in this culture system mimicked growth on stigmas: pollen grains
hydrated and germinated, and pollen tubes grew toward the aqueous
medium. The rate-limiting step in pollen germination was the movement of water through the surrounding exudate or oil. By elimination of
other potential guidance cues, we conclude that the directional supply
of water probably determined the axis of polarity of pollen tubes and
resulted in growth toward the interface. We propose that a gradient of
water in exudate is a guidance cue for pollen tubes on the stigma and
that the composition of the exudate must be such that it is permeable
enough for pollen hydration to occur but not so permeable that the
supply of water becomes nondirectional. Pollen tube penetration of the
stigma may be the most frequently occurring hydrotropic response of
higher plants.
1
This work was supported by a special research
grant from the Australian Research Council to the Plant Cell
Biology Research Centre.
*
Corresponding author; e-mail w.lush{at}botany.unimelb.edu.au; fax
61-3-9347-1071.
Plant Physiol. (1998) 118: 733-741
Copyright Clearance Center: 0032-0889/98/118//09
© 1998 American Society of Plant Physiologists
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