title: Sucrose concentration in the growth medium affects the cell wall  composition of tobacco pollen tubes.
abstract: The cell wall of pollen tubes is organized in both spatial and temporal order to allow the pollen tube to grow according to external conditions. The deposition of methyl-esterified and acid pectins in addition to callose/cellulose occurs according to a series of temporally succeeding events. In this work, we attempted to determine how the composition of the external growth medium (in terms of osmolarity) could affect the deposition of cell wall components. Pollen tubes of tobacco were grown in a hypotonic medium and then analyzed for the distribution of pectins and callose/cellulose [as well as for the distribution of the enzyme callose synthase (CALS)]. The data indicate that pollen tubes grown in a hypotonic medium show changes of the initial growth rate followed by modification of the deposition of acid pectins and, to a lesser extent, of CALS. These observations indicate that, under the osmolarity determined by the growth medium, pollen tubes adapt their cell wall to the changing conditions of growth.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Biagini
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Faleri
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cresti
authors.forename: Giampiero
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cai
mesh_terms: D002473:Cell Wall / Q000737:chemistry / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D003470:Culture Media / Q000494:pharmacology; D053205:Pollen Tube / Q000737:chemistry / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D013395:Sucrose / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000737:chemistry / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D013395:Sucrose