|
Hormone
|
Auxin

Crown galls are caused by Agrobacterium tumefaciens bacteria; they produce and
excrete Auxin and Cytokinin and I argue Salicylic acid and Jasmonic acid, which
interfere with normal cell division and cause largely undifferentiated calluses
of cells -
A Wikimedia Image (Caption is also
partially from Wikipedia - see
here)
|
|
Chemical Structure
|

Indol-3-ylacetic Acid , the most common Auxin -
A Wikimedia Commons Image
|
|
Speculative Overall Role
|
Oxygen deficiency signal.
|
|
What is Auxin's speculative complimentary
deficiency signal?
|
Ethylene
|
|
If overall speculative role is true, what
should Auxin's affect be on synthesis?
|
Well aerated plants should have high IAA levels, anoxia treated plants should
have low levels. IAA should be mostly made in meristematic cells and much less
so as cells mature. IAA should be made when a cell has more than enough
oxygen to support both it any cell dependent on it for oxygen acquisition.
Thus IAA is always an indication that growth amounts of oxygen are being
procured by the plant and if conditions warrant, that the plant has enough
oxygen to grow at least in the specific cell where the IAA is. (Shoot cells are
responsible for acquiring oxygen for both it and some of the oxygen for a
similar size cell in the root. Whereas a root cell is only responsible to
itself for it own oxygen level and may even obtain some oxygen from spaces
between soil particles).
|
|
If overall speculative role is true, what should
Auxin exogenous treatment produce?
|
Should induce Ethylene, because IAA up regulates various processes limited by
oxygen. Exogenously applying IAA leads the plant to falsely believe that it has
high levels of oxygen, thus engaging all sorts of reactions that use O2, thus
further depleting what may simply be a homeostatic level of existing O2 and
moving this level into the deficiency range.
|
|
If overall speculative role is true, what should Auxin inhibit and stimulate?
|
Should Induces new root growth, just like JA. Especially if JA is also present,
IAA should inhibit shoot growth because high JA and IAA levels are an indication
of at least a short term lack of need to expand the shoots.
|
|
If overall speculative role is true,
how should Auxin affect storage?
|
Should cause O2 to be stored in proteins and sequestration methods for less
propitious times.
|
|
If overall speculative role is true, how
should Auxin be transported?
|
May be expected to travel in the direction of the shoots, away the region lowest
in O2,
mainly the roots. As it travels up to the leaves it may actively send
Oxygen in the opposite direction.
|
|
If overall speculative role is true, how
should Auxin affect nutrient attraction and repulsion?
|
Should attract all nutrients and abundance hormones/signals to a cell and repel
deficiency hormones/signals.
|
|
If overall speculative role is true, how
should Auxin affect apical dominance?
|
Should induce shoot apical dominance along with JA, however the possibility
exists for two dominant apices if one is particularly good at sugar production
(in the light) and one good at oxygen harvesting (in the wind). May break root
apical dominances under conditions of low CK and SA.
|
|
If overall speculative role is true, how
should Auxin affect Cell Division?
|
Along with Cytokinin and JA and Salicylic acid,
IAA should be necessary for cell division. If there are some plant callus
lines that will divide with only Auxin and Cytokinin present it is because these
cell lines are mutants that produce SA and JA natively. Alternatively
these latter two hormones are unknowingly being included with "other"
nutrients/vitamins that are also added to calluses to get them to divide.
|
|
If overall speculative role is true, how
should Auxin affect Senescence
|
Should protect plant tissue from senescence, particularly root tissue.
|
|
If overall speculative role is true, how
should SA effect growth directions to provide balance in the plant?
|
Auxin is known to generally lengthen plant parts,
complimenting it's deficiency partner, Ethylene's broadening of plant parts.
|
|
Proven Synthesis and Transport
|
-
Made mostly in meristematic cells of the shoot and root decreasing
as cells mature and age. 34 35
Why this makes sense -
-
More is made in the shoot meristem than the root.34
35
Why this makes sense - All the abundance signals are indications that
certain meristems are worth sending nutrients to, e.g. investing in, and the
strongest candidate in many species wins out to the exclusion of all
others. Although possibly there is one dominant shoot apex for all four
nutrient groups, water, minerals, sugar and gases making a total of four
apices. Perhaps most of the time, the mineral and water apex and the sugar
and gas apices are the same making two dominant apices, one for the root and
one for the shoot.
-
Overall levels of Auxin peak during the day. 36
Why this makes sense - like the other three abundance signals, excess
"growable" amounts of nutrients, is more likely during the day when
transpiration and photosynthesis are their peaks than at nights when
nutrient stores are tapped to continue supporting life.
-
An internal gradient within the ovary effects the development of
the of the embryo.
44
46 Why this makes sense - Auxin appropriately induces new
roots and Cytokinin induces new shoots. So if one end of the embryo is
high in Auxin, that end will become the root. If the other end is high
Cytokinin, that end will become the shoot.
-
The developing seed releases Auxin, stimulating fruit growth. 44
47 Why this makes sense - ?
|
|
Proven Effects
|
-
Auxin induces new adventitious root development and growth. 33
Why this makes sense - Auxin induces new root growth to compliment
oxygen abundance. Since oxygen is mostly taken in by the leaves, abundance
of it shifts growth away from the leaves to roots.
-
Involved in shoot and root phototropism. (The Cholodny-Went
theory). 37
Why this makes sense - ? This doesn't make a lot of sense from the
theory. Maybe phototropism is due to local relative paucity of oxygen
because photosynthesis is using up O2. Therefore relatively
speaking Auxin will be higher in shaded sections of the root and shoot
rather than that portion exposed to the sun. In the root the shaded
excess of Auxin leads to Ethylene evolution and the relative inhibition of
growth of the shaded section versus the one exposed to light.
-
May mediate positive root and negative shoot gravitropism. 38
50
Why this makes sense - perhaps the starch granules used to measure
gravity are partly hydrolyzed and metabolized within the cells, leading to
local Oxygen depletion on the undersides of the cells in the roots and
relative Auxin abundance on the tops of the cells growing the cells down.
In the shoots, the same thing happens but the relative
-
Induce xylem differentiation. 39
Why this makes sense - Opposite of what is expected, unless xylem
somehow allows for Oxygen transport down even though water at the same time
is being transported up. However, maybe xylem differentiation may be to
bring up water and minerals to compliment the oxygen indicated by Auxin and
the sugar indicated by JA.
-
Auxin in concert with GA induce phloem differentiation. 32
Why this makes sense - this perhaps would make more sense if Auxin were
a sugar abundance signal. However an abundance of Oxygen may be an
indication of a lot photosynthesis having taken place, hence the need for
removal of the sugar to where it's needed or stored.
-
Inhibits secondary buds below site of synthesis producing apical
dominance. 40
41 Why this makes sense - perhaps success of the primary
bud in terms of Oxygen uptake and photosynthesis rates suggest against
fooling with success and investing resources in new growth directions.
-
High levels of Auxin induce ethylene synthesis especially in the
roots. 42
Why this makes sense - since Auxin is theorized to be an excess oxygen
signal, perhaps it allows oxygen requiring processes such as metabolism to
take place to such an extent that Oxygen levels become depleted in the
target tissue causing the release of the oxygen deficiency signal, Ethylene.
-
Induce cell lengthening. 43
Why this makes sense - Cell lengthening requires processes require a lot
of oxygen? Excess oxygen is sequestered in vacuoles, blowing a cell up like
a balloon? Compliments Ethylene's cell and tissue broadening.
-
An internal gradient within the ovary effects the development of
the of the embryo.
44
46 Why this makes sense - as stated before, greater
amounts of Auxin would produce the root for the embryo whereas Cytokinin
would produce the shoot.
-
The developing seed releases Auxin, stimulating fruit growth. 44
47 Why this makes sense - ?
-
Young leaves strongly attract Auxin preventing new leaves from
growing out of the meristem too soon.44
48 Why this makes sense - Maybe there is a "valley"
where some amounts induce hibernation of leaf growth. Apical meristem
growth is perhaps stimulated by the Auxin it makes because it is beyond the
valley of inhibition which is caused by moderate amounts of Auxin.
-
When Auxin are no longer produced by leaf, this initiates leaf
senescence and abscission. 49
Why this makes sense - the roles of leaves is apparently primarily to
make sugar with photosynthesis, to take in Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide and to
transpire. A leaf that is kept from senescence may need to do all four well
or one more of the four extraordinarily well. Since apparently the
four stimulating hormones attract each other if a lkeaf does not make Auxin
at all but only attracts it from neighboring supplies, a local synthesis may
be necessary and so some Oxygen uptake capabilities by a life may be
necessary.
-
The Shade-Avoidance Effect. 44
51 Why this
makes sense - this doesn't exactly make sense because the part of the plant
exposed to sunlight would have the least amount of Oxygen, since it is being
used in photosynthesis. However if the location of where
photosynthesis is transported to rather than where it is synthesized is
important for Auxin action then maybe the transport of Auxin from the
illuminated side to the dark side is what causes shade avoidance.
-
Auxin is integral to flower formation. Knockout Auxin mutants do not
flower.
44
45
Why this makes sense - ?
-
Auxin stimulates respiration.
113
Why this makes sense - increased Auxin signals high Oxygen
thus allowing greater respiration.
-
Auxin changes Carbon Dioxide Levels in the Leaf. 116
Why this makes sense - increased respiration induced by Auxin raises Oxygen
levels. Through this mechanism Oxygen may regulate respiration and
photosynethesis.
|