Investigation of ROP GTPase Activity and Cytoskeleton Dynamics During Tip Growth in Root Hairs and Pollen Tubes

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The Plant Cytoskeleton

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2604))

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Abstract

Pollen tubes and root hairs are typical tip-growing cells and are employed as model systems to study plant cell polarity. Previous studies have shown that the Rho family ROP GTPase plays a critical role in the regulation of pollen tube and root hair growth. Periodically, activated ROP GTPase coordinates with the tip-focused calcium gradient, to regulate actin dynamics and vesicle trafficking. Moreover, microtubules are also involved in organelle movement and growth directionality. Here, we describe methods for analyzing the spatiotemporal localization and activity of ROP, cortical microtubule organization, and F-actin dynamics in pollen tubes and/or root hairs.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (grant No. SQ2019YFE011441 to Y.F. and L. Z) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 32070311 and 31571384 to L.Z.; 32061143018, 91735305 and 91854119 to Y.F.).

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Correspondence to Lei Zhu .

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© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

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Zhu, L., Fu, Y. (2023). Investigation of ROP GTPase Activity and Cytoskeleton Dynamics During Tip Growth in Root Hairs and Pollen Tubes. In: Hussey, P.J., Wang, P. (eds) The Plant Cytoskeleton. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2604. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2867-6_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2867-6_17

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-2866-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-2867-6

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