Towards the creation of a systems tip growth model for a pollen tube.

Essential features of pollen tube growth are polarization of extracellular ion fluxes, intracellular ion gradients, and oscillating dynamics. These features in pollen tube growth are regulated by a wide range of spatiotemporally organized functions such as exocytosis and endocytosis, actin cytoskeleton reorganization, cell wall deposition and assembly, intracellular signalling, fertilization, and self-incompatibility. Recently, by developing a compartmental model, we have demonstrated that the tip and shank in a pollen tube combine in an integrative and self-regulatory system of ion and growth dynamics. Recent developments in modelling and the wealth of experimental data can be used to develop a systems model that provides an integrative view of the the interactions between the different functions that affect pollen tube growth.