Plant Hormones: Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology / Edition 1

by P.J. Davies

Overview

Plant hormones play a crucial role in controlling the way in which plants growand develop. Whilemetabolism providesthepowerand buildingblocks for plant life, it is the hormones that regulate the speed of growth of the individual parts and integrate these parts to produce the form that we recognize as a plant. In addition, theyplayacontrolling role inthe processes of reproduction. This book is a description of these natural chemicals: how they are synthesizedand metabolized; howthey work; whatwe knowof their molecular biology; how we measure them; and a description ofsome of the roles they play in regulating plant growth and development. Emphasis has also been placed on the new findings on plant hormones deriving from the expanding use ofmolecular biology as a tool to understand these fascinating regulatory molecules. Even at the present time, when the role of genes in regulating all aspects of growth and development is considered of prime importance, it is still clear that the path of development is nonetheless very much under hormonal control, either via changes in hormone levels in response to changes in gene transcription, or with the hormones themselves as regulators ofgene transcription. This is not a conference proceedings, but a selected collection ofnewly written, integrated, illustrated reviews describing our knowledge of plant hormones, and the experimental work that is the foundation of this knowledge.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780792329855
Publisher:	Springer Netherlands
Publication date:	04/30/1995
Edition description:	1995
Pages:	833
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.80(d)

Table of Contents

A. Introduction.- 1 The plant hormones: Their nature, occurrence and functions.- 2 The plant hormone concept: Concentration, sensitivity and transport.- B. Hormone Synthesis and Metabolism.- 1 Auxin biosynthesis and metabolism.- 2 Gibberellin biosynthesis and metabolism.- 3 Cytokinin biosynthesis and metabolism.- 4 Biosynthesis and metabolism of ethylene.- 5 Abscisic acid biosynthesis and metabolism.- C. Other Hormonal Compounds.- 1 Polyarnines as endogenous growth regulators.- 2 Jasmonates, salicylic acid and brassinosteroids.- D. How Hormones Work.- 1 Auxin and cell elongation.- 2 The control of gene expression by auxin.- 3 Gibberellin action in germinated cereal grains.- 4 Hormone binding and signal transduction.- 5 Calcium and plant hormone action.- E. Molecular Aspects of Hormone Synthesis and Action.- 1 Genes specifying auxin and cytokinin biosynthesis in prokaryotes.- 2 Transgenic plants in hormone biology.- 3 Molecular approaches to the study of the mechanism of action of auxins.- 4 Ethylene genes and fruit ripening.- 5 The role of hormones in gene activation in response to wounding.- F. Hormone Analysis.- 1 Instrumental methods of plant hormone analysis.- 2 Immunoassay methods of plant hormone analysis.- G. The Functioning of Hormones in Plant Growth and Development.- 1 Hormone mutants and plant development.- 2 Ethylene in plant growth, development, and senescence.- 3 Auxin transport.- 4 The induction of vascular tissues by auxin and cytokinin.- 5 Hormones and the orientation of growth.- 6 Hormonal regulation of apical dominance.- 7 Honnones as regulators of water balance.- 8 Honnones and reproductive development.- 9 The role of honnones in photosynthate partitioning and seed filling.- 10 The role of honnones during seed development.- 11 The role of honnones inpotato (Solanum tuberosum L.) tuberization.- 12 Postharvest honnone changes in vegetables and fruit.- 13 Natural and synthetic growth regulators and their use in horticultural and agronomic crops.- 14 Honnones in tissue culture and micropropagation.

Editorial Reviews

‘... it is relatively easy to read, gives the reader much multidisciplinary data and...thousands of bibliograhpic references.'
Acta Physiologiae Plantarum, 22:2 (2000)

From the Publisher