Plant Growth and Development
Download
Report
Transcript Plant Growth and Development
Plant Growth and
Development
Types of Growth
Apical meristem: plant tissue made of
actively dividing cells. Primary growth and
located at the tip of roots and shoots.
All growth at the apical meristem is called
primary growth which increases the height,
not the width.
Secondary growth arises from lateral
meristems and that increases the width of a
plant.
Shoot Primary Growth
Begin with mitosis and
once cell division occurs,
each cell grows longer.
Then elongated cells
specialize (differentiate)
into different cell types:
parenchyma, epidermal,
vascular.
Tissues form stems,
leaves, and organs for
sexual reproduction.
Root Primary Growth
Root apical meristems produce the cells of
the root cap and all other cell types in the
root.
There are several zones in the root:
Root cap: protects the meristem as it pushes
through the soil.
Zone of elongation: most cells stop dividing but
increase in length. Phloem matures and xylem
starts to form.
Zone of cell division: cells formed by meristem
continue to divide.
Zone of maturation (differentiation): tissues of
the root begin to take on specialized roles. Root
hairs begin to form.
Secondary Growth
Happens in woody plants after the first
season.
Wood is a product of secondary growth from
lateral meristem
The vascular cambium is an example of a
lateral meristem as it gives rise to secondary
phloem and secondary xylem
Cork cambium is another example as it
makes the cells that form the bark
Tropisms and Growth Regulators
Tropisms are growth responses to external stimuli.
Positive tropisms are growths towards the stimulus
Negative tropisms are growths away from the
stimulus
Phototropism: stems show a positive tropism
response to sunlight, where roots show a negative
tropism response.
Gravitropism: stems show negative to gravity, where
roots show positive.
Thigmotropism: is a change in the direction of growth
in response to contact. Climbing vines are an
example.
Hormones
There are three groups of plant hormones: auxins,
gibberellins, cytokinins.
Auxins
Plants like grasses have a sheath that covers young leaves as the
seedling emerges from the ground. This sheath responds to
sunlight by bending towards it.
Auxin is released from the apical bud (tip) when exposed to light
and travels away from the light and downwards, causing the cells
to elongate.
This results in an uneven elongation of cells, and the stem bends
towards the light.
Produced in the roots by the apical meristems.
Helps the roots grow with gravity, and works the opposite to stem
cells, high amounts of auxin, inhibit elongation.
Help roots grow around rocks.
Some herbicides contain auxins that
cause plants to undergo elongation at an
unsustainably rapid rate and die.
Synthetic auxins are used to induce cell
elongation in fruits.
If you cut off the apical bud, you can stunt
the growth of the plant and possibly
cause the plant to grow more flowers, fruit
or leaves.
Gibberellins
Produced in apical meristems AND in leaf
chloroplasts
Work with auxins to elongate stems and roots
Promote leaf growth and flowering
Seed germination
Controls fruit development
We spray fruit with gibberellins, to get larger
fruit.
Cytokinins
Promote cell division and cell
differentiation
Seed germination and flowering
Prevent plant from aging too quickly
Florists spray cut flowers to keep them
alive longer.