ISHS Acta Horticulturae 329: VII International Symposium on Plant Growth Regulators in Fruit Production
THE ROLE OF AUXIN IN PLANT ORGANIZATION |
| Author: | T. Sachs |
| Abstract:
The many results of plant hormone research do not fall into a simple picture in which precise concentrations determine specific processes. The purpose here is consider a conceptual scheme that would account for the occurrence and varied effects of auxin as an example of plant hormones. A dominant shoot promotes the initiation of new roots, induces the differentiation of oriented vascular tissues, and inhibits or induces the differentiation of other shoot apices. All these effects of leaves are replaced by the same known signal, auxin. Since auxin is formed by young leaves, these generalizations suggest that it is best viewed as a major signal of developing shoot tissues, not as a specific trigger of any one cellular process. Auxin carries integrated information about the development, size and environment of individual shoots. The flux of auxin, furthermore, specifies the orientation of a shoot relative to the rest of the plant. Essential substrates could also serve as correlative signals, but unlike hormones they could not account for essential characteristics of plant organization. | |
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