Endocytic pathways in pollen tube : implications for in vivo growth regulation

By endocytosis eukaryotic cells can take up extracellular components and/or plasma membrane proteins for further delivering to endosomes. Although in animal cells different endocytic pathways were identified based on the requirement of a clathrin coating for vesicle internalization, endocytosis in plant cells still require to be fully characterized. The use of positively and negatively charged nanogold in combination with Ika, an inhibitor of the clathrin-dependent endocytosis, allowed to dissect the endocytic pathway and revealed the presence of clathrin-dependent and clathrin-independent degradative pathways.