The Pollen Tube: A Model System for Cell and Molecular Biology Studies -- Pollen Development, a Genetic and Transcriptomic View -- Ions and Pollen Tube Growth -- Genomic and Molecular Analyses of Transporters in the Male Gametophyte -- Small GTPases and Spatiotemporal Regulation of Pollen Tube Growth -- Lipid Metabolism, Compartmentalization and Signalling in the Regulation of Pollen Tube Growth -- The Actin Cytoskeleton in Pollen Tubes; Actin and Actin Binding Proteins -- The Microtubular Cytoskeleton in Pollen Tubes: Structure and Role in Organelle Trafficking -- The Architecture and Properties of the Pollen Tube Cell Wall -- Cellular Mechanisms for Pollen Tube Growth Inhibition in Gametophytic Self-incompatibility -- Extracellular Guidance Cues and Intracellular Signaling Pathways that Direct Pollen Tube Growth.-Screening and Analysis of Pollen Tube Mutations -- Comparative Analysis of Biological Models in the Study of Pollen Tube Growth.

The enormous amount of data now available about the pollen tube clearly reflects its qualities as a biological model that go much beyond that of a carrier of sperm cells essential for plant reproduction. The diversity of techniques and methodologies currently used to study pollen and pollen tube growth is reflected in this book written by biochemists, cell biologists, molecular biologists and geneticists. Their different perspectives demonstrate that pollen tubes are excellent models for plant cell research, particularly suitable for investigations on cell tip growth and polarization, signal transduction, channel and ion flux activity, gene expression, cytoskeleton and wall structure, membrane dynamics and even cellâ€{u396C}l communication.