Flowering plants evolved a complex yet very interesting process to deliver sperm cells for double fertilization and seed formation. When pollen, the male gametophyte, lands on a receptive stigma of a flower, it germinates to produce a cell extension, the pollen tube, which carries non-motile sperm cells and discharge the sperm cells into the female gametophyte, the embryo sac. This Increase in size or change of geometry in plant cells requires the controlled yielding of the cell wall to the internal hydrostatic pressure. This research project investigates the role of the mechanical relationship between turgor and cell wall mechanics during plant cell growth. [Image by: Karuna Kapoor - Geitmann Lab]
