Recently published in Annals of Botany

Cellular morphogenesis in land plants and brown algae is typically a slow process. Elongation of the zygote of the brown alga Dictyota dichotoma changes its shape in a 90 seconds that depends on F-actin, myosin and secretion. The elongation can be parthenogenetically triggered by inducing membrane depolarisation (high potassium seawater) and calcium influx (ionomycin). A model is presented in which the fast elongation is accomplished by a force generated by F-actin and myosin, regulated by cytoplasmic calcium concentrations, and by secretion during elongation lowering the antagonistic force.

Egg activation-triggered shape change in the Dictyota dichotoma
(Phaeophyceae) zygote is actin–myosin and secretion dependent
Bogaert K.A, Beeckman T. and De Clerck O. Annals of Botany 2017.

doi:10.1093/aob/mcx085, available online at https://academic.oup.com/aob