Abstract
Growing lily (Lilium longiflorum Thunb.) pollen always drive a current into their tubes and out of their grains. The only external ions needed for growth (and the growth current) are K+, H+, and Ca2+. Increases in K+ immediately stimulate the current; while decreases in K+ immediately inhibit it. Comparable changes in H+ have the opposite effect; while those in Ca2+ have very little effect. We infer that most of the steady growth current is carried in by a potassium leak and out by a proton pump; but other considerations indicate that a minor, but controlling, component of the inward current consists of calcium ions.
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Weisenseel, M.H., Jaffe, L.F. The major growth current through lily pollen tubes enters as K+ and leaves as H+ . Planta 133, 1–7 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00385998
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00385998