Over the past 50 years, only a few studies have examined the peri-germ cell membrane. Nonetheless, it has been assigned multiple names. For example, the peri-germ cell membrane was identified in 1969 (ref. ¹) as the ‘generative cell envelope’. Subsequent ultrastructural work in the 1980s led to new names, including ‘internal plasma membrane of the vegetative cell’, ‘inner plasma membrane of the pollen grain’ and ‘inner vegetative cell plasma membrane’^2,3,4,5,6. Another study referred to it as the ‘pollen tube inner plasma membrane’ when considering the pollen tube⁷. When the Arabidopsis small GTPase RHO OF PLANTS 9 (AtROP9) was identified as the first protein reported to locate to this membrane, the authors named it the ‘invaginated pollen tube plasma membrane’⁸. More recently, when the maize NOT-LIKE-DAD protein (NLD; also known as MATRILINEAL (MTL) or PHOSPHOLIPASE-A1 (ZmPLA1)) was found to localize exclusively to the peri-germ cell membrane, the authors named it the ‘pollen endo-plasma membrane’⁹.

This diverse nomenclature causes confusion and calls for the implementation of a consensus on terminology. For example, the term ‘generative cell envelope’ is too restrictive, as the peri-germ cell membrane also encloses the two sperm cells. Similarly, the use of ‘pollen tube’ in the nomenclature is not appropriate because this membrane is also present before pollen germination. Furthermore, using ‘plasma membrane’ could lead to confusion with the classical plasma membrane (PM) of the generative cell, sperm cells or vegetative cell. Additionally, the term plasma membrane is misleading, given that the peri-germ cell membrane may differ in protein and lipid composition from the classical PM.

在过去的 50 年里，只有少数研究检查了胚周细胞膜。尽管如此，它已被分配了多个名称。例如，1969 年（参考文献 ¹）将胚周细胞膜确定为“生成细胞包膜”。随后在 1980 年代进行的超微结构工作产生了新名称，包括“营养细胞内部质膜”、“花粉粒内部质膜”和“内部营养细胞质膜”^2,3,4,5,6。另一项研究在考虑花粉管时将其称为“花粉管内质膜”⁷。当植物的拟南芥小 GTP 酶 RHO 9 （在ROP9） 被确定为第一个被报道位于该膜上的蛋白质时，作者将其命名为“内陷花粉管质膜”⁸。最近，当发现玉米 NOT-LIKE-DAD 蛋白（NLD;也称为母系 （MTL） 或磷脂酶-A1 （ZmPLA1））仅定位于胚周细胞膜时，作者将其命名为“花粉内质膜”⁹。

这种不同的命名法造成了混淆，并要求对术语达成共识。例如，术语“生成细胞包膜”过于严格，因为胚周细胞膜也包围了两个精子细胞。同样，在命名中使用 “花粉管 ”也是不合适的，因为这种膜在花粉发芽之前也存在。此外，使用“质膜”可能会导致与生成细胞、精子细胞或营养细胞的经典质膜 （PM） 混淆。此外，术语质膜具有误导性，因为胚膜周围细胞膜的蛋白质和脂质组成可能与经典的 PM 不同。