Chemical Coordination in Plants Class 10 ICSE Notes

Stimuli  is a change in either external or internal environment of

an organism.
→ Response  is the resulting actions or movements caused by
stimuli

lant sensitivity and coordination is controlled by some

chemicals produced by them.
→ Plants respond to stimuli by producing chemical compounds
called “hormones” that work as messengers.

Because of some hormones plant growth is stimulated or

maybe inhibited.
→ The main areas of growth (cell division) in plants are
meristems as they are sensitive to hormones.
→ The hormone helps to stretch the cellulose wall of the
meristematic cells to facilitate division.
→ Plants are sensitive to light and respond to the direction of
light. Also sensitive to water, temperature, gravity, etc.
→ Shoot grows towards light but roots grow away from it.

 Phytohormone – was coined to distinguish plant from animal

hormones
  Plant Hormones –
1.) Auxins –
→ First growth hormone discovered in plants
→ Are powerful growth-stimulants and also effective at
extremely low concentration.
→ IIA (Indole-3-acetic acid) main natural auxin in plants.
→ Present in shoot apex, root apex, lateral meristems, etc
2.) Gibberellins –
→ Different forms of gibberellins from different plants – GA1,
GA2, GA3 & so on.
→ Gibberellic acid (GA3) is most studied.
→ Promote growth of internodes by cell elongation
→ Present in meristematic region like stem-apex, root-apex,
buds, seeds, etc
3.) Cytokinins –
→ Has specific effects on cell-division
 Stimulate plant growth by cell division as against auxin and
gibberellins which stimulate growth by cell elongation.
→ Widely distributed in plants
→ Produced in root tips and transported through xylem
→ Found in germinating seeds, developing fruits, embryo etc.
4.) Ethylene –
→ Only hormone which is a gas at ordinary temperature.
→ Site of synthesis and site of action are not different.
→ Gas causing ripening of fruits
→ Produced in higher plants and fungi
→ More ethylene is produced in meristematic tissues.
5.) Abscisic acid (ABA) –
→ Growth-retarding hormone
→ Found in angiosperms, gymnosperms, pteridophytes and
some mosses.
Found in chloroplasts of leaves
→ Fruits and seeds contain highest amount of ABA.
→ Also known as stress hormone

Plant hormone Site of synthesis functions

·         Promote cell

elongation
·         Suppress the
growth of lateral
·         Shoot apical buds
1. Auxins meristems and ·         Delay fall of
young leaves leaves
·         Induce
formation of
parthenocarpic
fruits

·         Help in stem

elongation
·         Break
·         Meristem of dormancy of seeds
2. Gibberellins apical buds and and buds
roots ·         Delay
senescence
·         Induce
parthenocarpy

3. Cytokinins ·         Roots and ·         Stimulate cell

transported to division and cell
other organs enlargement
·         Prevent
 ageing of plant parts
·         Inhibit apical
dominance

·         Senescent ·         Induces fruit

leaves and flowers, ripening
4. Ethylene
germinating seeds ·         Promote
and ripening fruits. senescence

·         Induces
dormancy of buds
·         Green fruits and seeds
and seeds at the ·         Inhibits seed
5. Abscisic acid
beginning of germination and
wintering periods. development
·         Stimulates
closing of stomata

 Tropic movements in plants

→ The root must grow downwards into soil which will provide
support, water and minerals for the plants.
→ Shoot must grow up towards the light source so that
developing leaflets could carry out photosynthesis in order to
produce food for the growing plant.
→ Movement of these parts of the plant take place in direct
response to external stimuli.
→ The direction of response is related to direction from which
stimulus comes. Such response is known as tropism.
→ Growth movements occurring in response to unidirectional
external stimuli in a plant part are called tropic movements.
I.) Phototropism –
→ Movement towards light
→ Shoots are positively phototropic and roots are negatively
phototropic
→ Auxins play an important role
→ Auxins help in bending of shoot towards the source of light
by getting accumulated in the region of the shoot which is not
facing light which result in rapid cell-elongation.
II.) Geotropism –
→ Growing towards the earth’s gravity
→ Also known as gravitropism.
→ Roots tip are positively geotropic and shoot tip is negatively
geotropic.
III. Hydrotropism –
→ Movement of plant parts in response to water or moisture
→ When plant parts grow towards source of moisture called
positively hydrotropic.
→ Roots are positively hydrotropic as water available in soil.
→ When plant part grow away from source of moisture is called
negatively hydrotropic (shoot)
IV.)  Thigmotropism
→ Growth movement of plant parts in response to touch
stimulus
→ Plants such as sweet peas, cuscuta and vines have tendrils
which coil around other plants in response to one sided touch.
→ Entire tendril becomes sensitive to stimulus.
→ Example of Thigmotropism is tendrils.
V.) Chemotropism –
→ Growth of plant organs in response to chemicals.
→ Example- movement of pollen-tube of angiosperm and
gymnosperm towards sugars and peptones secreted by neck
canal cells of female gametophyte
 Glossary –
→ Parthenocarpy – natural or artificially induced production of
fruit without fertilisation of ovules, which make fruits seedless.
Example – banana
→ Sunflower exhibit heliotropism in which sunflower head
moves according to the sun (east to west direction). This is
because sunflower contains auxin which is sensitive to sunlight.
Hence they migrate from the part of the plant bathed in sunlight
to the shaded region of the stem.