Auxins are a class of plant growth substance (often called phytohormones or plant hormones). Auxins play an essential role in coordination of many growth and behavioral processes in the plant life cycle.
IAA appears to be the most active Auxin in plant growth.
Auxins have been demonstrated to be a basic coordinative signal of plant development. Their pattern of active transport through the plant is complex, and auxins typically act in concert with (or opposition to) other plant hormones. For example, the ratio of auxin to cytokinin in certain plant tissues determines initiation of root versus shoot buds. As a result, a plant can (as a whole) react on external conditions and adjust to them, without requiring a nervous system.
The most important member of the auxin family is indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). It generates the majority of auxin effects in intact plants, and is the most potent native auxin. However, molecules of IAA are chemically labile in aqueous solution, so IAA cannot be applied commercially as a plant growth regulator.
- Naturally-occurring auxins include 4-chloro-indoleacetic acid, phenylacetic acid (PAA) and indole-3-butyric acid (IBA).Gallery of native auxins
IAA:
IBA:
PAA:
Gallery of synthetic auxins
1-NAA:
2,4-D:
2,4,5-T:
Auxins are often used to promote initiation of root growth and are the active ingredient of the commercial preparations used in horticulture to root stem cuttings). They can also be used to promote uniform flowering, to promote fruit set, and to prevent premature fruit drop.
Used in high doses, auxin stimulates the production of ethylene. Excess ethylene can inhibit elongation growth, cause leaves to fall (leaf abscission), and even kill the plant. Some synthetic auxins such as 2,4-D and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T) can be used as herbicides. Broad-leaf plants (dicots) such as dandelions are much more susceptible to auxins than narrow-leaf plants (monocots) like grass and cereal crops.
Auxins coordinate development at all levels of plants, from the cellular level to organs and ultimately the whole plant.
On the cellular level, auxins' presence is essential for both cell division and respective cell growth, resulting usually in its axial elongation. Auxins also directly stimulate or inhibit the expression of specific genes. Auxin induces transcription by targeting for degradation members of the Aux/IAA family of transcriptional repressor proteins, The degradation of the Aux/IAAs leads to the derepression of ARF-mediated transcription. Aux/IAAs are targeted for degradation by ubiquitination, catalysed by an SCF-type ubiquitin-protein ligase.
Plant Cell Structure
1. Nuclear envelope
2. Nucleolus
3. Nucleus
4. Rough endoplasmic retuculum
5. Leukoplast
6. Cytoplasm
7. Golgi vesicles (golge apparatus)
8. Cell wall
9. Peroxisome
10. Plasma membrane
11. Mitochodrion (mitochondria)
12. Vacuole
13. Chloroplast
14. Plasmodesmata
15. Plasmodesmata
16. Smooth endoplasmic reticulum
17. Filamentous cytoskeleton
18. Small membranous vesicles
19. Ribosomes
The plant cell wall is made up of cellulose and protein, and, in many cases, lignin. It is very firm and prevents any sudden expansion of cell volume, and, without contribution of auxins, any expansion at all.
According to the "acid growth theory," auxins may directly stimulate cell elongation by causing responsive cells to actively transport hydrogen ions out of the cell, thus lowering the pH around cells. This acidification of the cell wall region activates enzymes known as expansins, which break bonds in the cell wall structure, making the cell wall less rigid. When the cell wall is degraded (not entirely) by the action of auxins, this now-less-rigid wall is expanded by the pressure coming from within the cell, especially by growing vacuoles.
Growth and division of plant cells result in growth of tissue, and specific tissue growth contributes to the development of plant organs. Growth of cells contributes to the plant's size, but uneven localized growth produces bending, turning and directionalization of organs, for example, stems turning toward light sources (phototropism), growth of roots in response to gravity (gravitropism), and other tropisms.
As auxins contribute to organ shaping, they are also fundamentally required for proper development of the plant itself. Without hormonal regulation and organization, plants would be merely proliferating heaps of similar cells. Auxin employment begins in the embryo of the plant, where directional distribution of auxin ushers in subsequent growth and development of primary growth poles, then forms buds of future organs. Throughout the plant's life, auxin helps the plant maintain the polarity of growth and recognize where it has its branches (or any organ) connected.
An important principle of plant organization based upon auxin distribution is apical dominance, which means that the auxin produced by the apical bud (or growing tip) diffuses downwards and inhibits the development of ulterior lateral bud growth, which would otherwise compete with the apical tip for light and nutrients. Removing the apical tip and its suppressive hormone allows the lower dormant lateral buds to develop, and the buds between the leaf stalk and stem produce new shoots which compete to become the lead growth. This behavior is used in pruning by horticulturists.
Uneven distribution of auxin: To cause growth in the required domains, it is necessary that auxins be active preferentially in them. Auxins are not synthesized everywhere, but each cell retains the potential ability to do so, and only under specific conditions will auxin synthesis be activated. For that purpose, not only do auxins have to be translocated toward those sites where they are needed but there has to be an established mechanism to detect those sites. Translocation is driven throughout the plant body primarily from peaks of shoots to peaks of roots. For long distances, relocation occurs via the stream of fluid in phloem vessels, but, for short-distance transport, a unique system of coordinated polar transport directly from cell to cell is exploited. This process of polar auxin transport is directional and very strictly regulated. It is based in uneven distribution of auxin efflux carriers on the plasma membrane, which send auxins in the proper direction.
Although auxins and their effects have been known for a long time, mechanisms of action in plants have remained unknown for a long time. In 2005, it was demonstrated that the F-box protein TIR1, which is part of the ubiquitin ligase complex SCFTIR1, is an auxin receptor. This marking process leads to the degradation of the repressors by the proteasome, alleviating repression and leading to specific gene expression in response to auxins.
Another protein called ABP1 (Auxin Binding Protein 1) is a putative receptor, but its role is unclear.
The defoliant Agent Orange was a mix of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T. 2,4-D is still in use and is thought to be safe, but 2,4,5-T was more or less banned by the EPA in 1979. The dioxin TCDD is an unavoidable contaminant produced in the manufacture of 2,4,5-T. As a result of the integral dioxin contamination, 2,4,5-T has been implicated in leukaemia, miscarriages, birth defects, liver damage, and other diseases.
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