Plant Cell Blood
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
 QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     


Plant Cell Advance Online Publication
Published on August 12, 2005; 10.1105/tpc.105.033183


This Article
Right arrow Full Text - TPC Advance Online Pub. (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental Data
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
17/9/2564    most recent
tpc.105.033183v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by de Graaf, B. H.J.
Right arrow Articles by Wu, H.-m.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by de Graaf, B. H.J.
Right arrow Articles by Wu, H.-m.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by de Graaf, B. H.J.
Right arrow Articles by Wu, H.-m.

Received April 7, 2005
Returned for revision June 8, 2005
Accepted July 8, 2005

Rab11 GTPase-Regulated Membrane Trafficking Is Crucial for Tip-Focused Pollen Tube Growth in Tobacco

Barend H.J. de Graaf 1, Alice Y. Cheung 2*, Tatyana Andreyeva 3, Kathryn Levasseur 1, Marcia Kieliszewski 4, and Hen-ming Wu 3

1 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts, Lederle Graduate Research Center, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003
2 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts, Lederle Graduate Research Center, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003; Molecular and Cellular Biology Program University of Massachusetts, Lederle Graduate Research Center, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003; Plant Biology Graduate Program, University of Massachusetts, Lederle Graduate Research Center, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003
3 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts, Lederle Graduate Research Center, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003; Molecular and Cellular Biology Program University of Massachusetts, Lederle Graduate Research Center, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003
4 Department of Chemistry, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: acheung{at}biochem.umass.edu.

Pollen tube growth is a polarized growth process whereby the tip-growing tubes elongate within the female reproductive tissues to deliver sperm cells to the ovules for fertilization. Efficient and regulated membrane trafficking activity incorporates membrane and deposits cell wall molecules at the tube apex and is believed to underlie rapid and focused growth at the pollen tube tip. Rab GTPases, key regulators of membrane trafficking, are candidates for important roles in regulating pollen tube growth. We show that a green fluorescent protein-tagged Nicotiana tabacum pollen-expressed Rab11b is localized predominantly to an inverted cone-shaped region in the pollen tube tip that is almost exclusively occupied by transport vesicles. Altering Rab11 activity by expressing either a constitutive active or a dominant negative variant of Rab11b in pollen resulted in reduced tube growth rate, meandering pollen tubes, and reduced male fertility. These mutant GTPases also inhibited targeting of exocytic and recycled vesicles to the pollen tube inverted cone region and compromised the delivery of secretory and cell wall proteins to the extracellular matrix. Properly regulated Rab11 GTPase activity is therefore essential for tip-focused membrane trafficking and growth at the pollen tube apex and is pivotal to reproductive success.







HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
ASPB Publications THE PLANT CELL PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Copyright © 2005 by the American Society of Plant Biologists