A 450-million-year-old signaling system shapes sperm motility
Plant Science Research WeeklyFor successful fertilization, sperm must reach the egg. Most land plants deliver non-motile sperm through a pollen tube. However, the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha retains the ancestral form of fertilization, sperm that are motile and use flagella to swim towards the egg. This process offers a unique…
Maintaining pollen tube integrity in maize
The Plant Cell: In a NutshellZhou et al. investigated pollen tube integrity maintenance mechanisms in maize. The Plant Cell (2023) https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad324
By Liang-Zi Zhou and Thomas Dresselhaus
Background: As sperm cell transporting vehicles, pollen tubes of flowering plants grow through the transmitting tissues…