Plant cell elongation has been a topic without complete
understanding. The exact model for cell
elongation is believed to have a relationship to several hormones and proteins
still under a variety of current studies. Indole-acetic acid, or Auxin, is a
hormone found in plants that has been found to be involved in cell elongation.
Recent research on Arabidopsis thaliana showed a specific
mutant “Echidna”(a protein involved in golgi transport) was found to be
necessary for Auxin transport in the golgi apparatus to the plasma membrane
within Arabidopsis cells. Boutte andJonsson et al. published in 2013 literature concerning apical hook development(a
time between formation and maintenance phase in the development of Arabidopsis
in which a bend occurs on hypocotyl) and Auxin’s relationship to it.
It was found that during development, the Echidna mutant was
fou
nd to lose the apical hook bend during the maintenance phase as compared to
the wild type which retains its bend during the maintenance phase. Through marking Auxin with YFP, fluorescence of
the plants was severly decreased in the Echidna mutant, but not in the wild
type. When comparing fluorescence of
expression of another transport protein PIN3, it was found that the levels did
not change in the Echidna nor wild type plants.
Auxin is involved in a specific way with Echidna that is different from
several other transporter proteins.As mentioned in the paper, the data that the researchers
recovered showed that Auxin has a distinct role from other transport carriers
with Echidna in its function of plant differential cell elongation.
Posted by Michael Dailing(A)
I actually had no idea that plant cell elongation was a topic of interest, and am actually quite interested in what the application and appeal of researching and studying this would be.
ReplyDeleteNicole Peterkin
Mainly, it seems that the application is to learn more about a topic with sometimes a sparse amount of information. Auxin is a substance that is being looked at at a lot of places as its function until recently was somewhat unknown I believe.
DeletePosted by Michael Dailing
As a self proclaimed plant enthusiast I found this rather interesting. Maybe I wasn't understanding the article well enough but what is the function of the apical hook?
ReplyDeletePosted by Jacob Geier
The apical hook is a stage along the development of the plant, specifically for Arabidopsis in this case. Essentially the apical hook was how the researchers discovered the placement and trafficking of Auxin (as the hook can only bend if it grows in one direction or the other).
DeletePosted by Michael Dailing