Chapter 6

Plant hormones
Point covered from the study design:
“The sources and mode of transmission of various signalling molecules to their target cell, including plant and
animal hormones, neurotransmitters, cytokines and pheromones”
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Hormones as plant regulators
• Unlike animals, plants do not have a nervous system...
• All plant ‘coordination and regulation’ relies solely on the plants endocrine
system. Hormones travel through vascular tissue (sap, water
etc in xylem & phloem) and localised movement by
cytoplasmic streaming.

What sort of events to plants need to ‘coordinate and

regulate’?
• Fruit development, growth & ripening
• Formation of buds
• Lengthening of stems
• Downward growth of roots
• Expansion of leaves,
• Appearance of flowers....
External factors influencing
growth…
•Light intensity
•Gravity
•Water
•Light direction
•Day Length
•Temperature
Plant responses to external factors
• Plants respond to light by growing towards the light source
(phototropism).

• Plants respond to gravity

• the shoot grows upwards (negative geotropism)
• the roots grow downwards (positive geotropism)

• Plants respond to changing day length - the basis of

seasonal changes in plants, and the trigger for flowering in many
species (phototropism).

• Plants respond to periods of cold (vernalisation) by becoming

dormant or shedding leaves.
Plant Hormones
• Plant hormones are mainly
produced in the growing regions
called the meristems.
• Plant hormones are transported
throughout the plant via the
xylem and/or phloem (mostly the
phloem).
• Plant hormones do not act in
isolation, with the presence of
one influencing the action of
another.
Plant Hormone Examples

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Plant Hormone Examples

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Plant Hormones

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 Auxins
• ‘Auxins’ refers to many hormones including (most commonly discussed)
Indolacetic Acid (IAA).
• Involved in controlling elongation and enlargement of plant cells:
• Elongation of stems
• Growth of lateral and adventitious roots (large root system)
(but at high concentrations inhibit root growth)
• Promote growth of flowers and fruits
• Influence the differentiation of unspecialised cells into vascular
tissue (xylem/ phloem)
Where are Auxins produced?
• Auxins are produced by the growing tips of plants.
• It was found that the first leaves (coleoptiles) of these
germinating seeds did not grow if their tips were removed…
IAA and apical dominance.
• Apical dominance exists when lateral IAA is produced here...

buds on the stem close to the apex

of a plant do not develop while the
growing tip at the apex of a plant
grows and develops.
• The IAA moves down the stem
through the phloem and exerts an
inhibitory effect. When apical
dominance is strong, plants develop
few, if any, lateral branches.
IAA and apical dominance
• What would be expected to happen to a
plant if the terminal bud at the apex is
removed?

When the bud at the apex is nipped off,

the source of IAA is removed and lateral
buds lower down on the stem begin to
develop.

By selectively pruning or removing

growing tips with their terminal buds,
gardeners can produce more bushy
plants because more lateral buds will
develop into leafy shoots.
Auxins and tropisms -
phototropism
• Positive phototropism is the bending of a plant towards light.
• Auxin in the cells moves to the dark side of the coleoptile,
causing the cells on the dark side to elongate.
• This uneven elongation leads to bending.
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Auxins and tropisms -
geotropism
• Geotropism is the growth of a plant due to the effects of gravity.
• Shoots show negative geotropism – growing against the force of
gravity.
• Roots show positive geotropism – growing with the force of gravity.
• The response of plants to particular distributions of auxins enables plants to
orient themselves to a more favourable position within their environment.
Plants In Motion
Animations

(Click on various QuickTime movies on left-hand side to view plants behaviour)

Cytokinins
• Cytokinins are growth promoting hormones that act on
shoots, roots and fruits.
• High concentrations of cytokinins are found in young,
growing plants.
• Promote cell reproduction.
• Transported via xylem.
Gibberellins
• Gibberellins promote cell elongation and cell reproduction in tissues
of stems and leaves.
• Gibberellins also initiate seed germination and bud development.
• Promotes development of branches with juvenile type leaves (if no
gibberellins present, then branches with adult type leaves develop
instead, which can produce flowers.)
• Eg: Gibberellic Acid
• Transported via xylem and phloem

Plants with (left) and

without (right) the
influence of gibberellins
 Abscisic Acid
• Abscisic acid inhibits growth and influences stomatal closures by
interfering with uptake and retention of K+ and Na+ ions in guard
cells, causing the stomatal pores to close in order to reduce water
loss. So Abscisic Acid accumulates in wilting leaves.

• Also inhibits germination of seeds, promotes seed dormancy and

seasonal dormancy.

• DOES NOT cause abscission

(falling) of leaves and fruits.
This is a disproven theory
The name of the ‘abscission zone’
can be confusing.
Ethylene
• Promotes fruit ripening, senescence (aging),
and abscission of leaves and flowers.
• Also promotes germination.
• Ethylene and fruit production works on a
positive feedback mechanism.
• Transported throughout plant by diffusion
through intercellular spaces.
• Ethylene is not technically a hormone but a
gas produced by the metabolism of a plant
• Increases rate of respiration in plant cells
• Lowering ethylene levels increases life of cut flowers.
• Fruits, once picked are stored under low ethylene &
low oxygen conditions
RIPENING
• Ethylene causes the degradation
of cell walls and causes softening
of the fruit by stimulating cell
respiration.
• To quicken ripening of bananas
you can trap the ethylene gas.
How?
• What else could you do to help
the fruit ripen quickly?
• To stop fruit ripening CO2 gas is
pumped in. Why?
SAC Information and Background
• PART 1: Effect of varying concentrations of auxin on the growth of shoots and
roots in wheat seeds.
• Requires serial dilutions.

Dilution Volume of Volume of

concentration Auxin solution Distilled Water
100mg/l 100ml 0ml
10mg/l 10ml of previous solution 90ml
1mg/l
0.1mg/l
0.01mg/l
0.001mg/l
0.0001mg/l

• PART 2: Auxin/cytokinin interaction and effect on a callus.

• “The callus is also the protective tissue, consisting of parenchyma cells,
that develops over a cut or damaged plant surface.” (http://www.cactus-art.biz/)