[Feedback control mechanisms of plant cell expansion]. Progress report, [June 1989--June 1992]
Year: 1992
Type: report
Abstract: We have generated considerable evidence for the significance of wall stress relaxation in the control of plant growth and found that several agents (gibberellin, light, genetic loci for dwarf stature) influence growth rate via alteration of wall relaxation. We have refined our methods for measuring wall relaxation and, moreover, have found that wall relaxation properties bear only a distance relationship to wall mechanical properties. We have garnered novel insights into the nature of cell expansion mechanisms by analyzing spontaneous fluctuations of plant growth rate in seedlings. These experiments involved the application of mathematical techniques for analyzing growth rate fluctuations and the development of new instrumentation for measuring and forcing plant growth in a controlled fashion. These studies conclude that growth rate fluctuations generated by the plant as consequence of a feedback control system. This conclusion has important implications for the nature of wall loosening processes and demands a different framework for thinking about growth control. It also implies the existence of a growth rate sensor.
DOI: 10.2172/10113469
Authors: D Cosgrove, USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
Language: English
Subfield: Plant Science
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: U.S. Department of Energy
OpenAlex ID: W1537620914