Abstract
A wide range of tip-growing cells in fungi and plants display polarized
cell growth, which is an essential cellular process for the form and
function of individual cells. Vesicles containing new cell wall components
and membranes are secreted into the apical dome, and, coupled with turgor
pressure-driven cell, this restricts growth to this limited zone.
Understanding the regulatory mechanisms underlying tip growth in land
plants has been advanced through the use of three main cell types: moss
protonemata, root hairs and pollen tubes of seed plants. The relationship
between the signal transduction, ion gradient and cytoskeleton, have been
a subject of much interest. In some species of algae that form filamentous
cells, cellular processes in tip growth have also been investigated, but
their regulatory mechanisms remain unclear. In the macro red alga Neopyropia
yezoensis, for which genome information has recently been released,
the conchocelis apical cell exhibits tip growth and form the filamentous
structure. We established a live-imaging system with high-resolution
microscopy to analyze tip growth of N. yezoensis
conchocelis. This review addresses recent advances in our understanding of
plant tip growth, including algae, as well as evolutionary insights from
the use of the conchocelis.
