title: Profilin Regulates Apical Actin Polymerization to Control Polarized Pollen Tube Growth.
abstract: Pollen tube growth is an essential step during flowering plant reproduction, whose growth depends on a population of dynamic apical actin filaments. Apical actin filaments were thought to be involved in the regulation of vesicle fusion and targeting in the pollen tube. However, the molecular mechanisms that regulate the construction of apical actin structures in the pollen tube remain largely unclear. Here, we identify profilin as an important player in the regulation of actin polymerization at the apical membrane in the pollen tube. Downregulation of profilin decreased the amount of filamentous actin and induced disorganization of apical actin filaments, and reduced tip-directed vesicle transport and accumulation in the pollen tube. Direct visualization of actin dynamics revealed that the elongation of actin filaments originating at the apical membrane decreased in profilin mutant pollen tubes. Mutant profilin that is defective in binding poly-L-proline only partially rescues the actin polymerization defect in profilin mutant pollen tubes, although it fully rescues the actin turnover phenotype. We propose that profilin controls the construction of actin structures at the pollen tube tip, presumably by favoring formin-mediated actin polymerization at the apical membrane.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China; Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Physiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
authors.forename: Xiaonan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Center for Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Tsinghua-Peking Joint Center for Life Sciences, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Xiaolu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Physiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
authors.forename: Yuxiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Physiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Physiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
authors.forename: Ruihui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Physiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
authors.forename: Youjun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Physiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China; Center for Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; National Center for Plant Gene Research, Beijing 100101, China. Electronic address: sjhuang@ibcas.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Shanjin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D016764:Cell Polarity; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D053205:Pollen Tube / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D058105:Polymerization; D051304:Profilins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D022161:Transport Vesicles / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; C495749:PRF4 protein, Arabidopsis; C509633:PRF5 protein, Arabidopsis; D051304:Profilins
keywords: actin; actin polymerization; formin; pollen tube; profilin