The ups and downs of auxin

A presentation on the action of auxin

prepared by GTAC staff
 Hormones signal cells to divide,
elongate and differentiate to form
tissues in plants
Meristem = zone of actively dividing cells

In dicots, the meristem is found at root

and shoot tips

Different in monocots (grasses). Where

is the meristem?
•Does grass continue to grow even after
mowing?
•Do you think the zone of division is in
the tip or lower in grasses?
Dicotyledonous plant
 Plant tumours
Henri-Louis Duhamel (1700–1782)
French agriculturalist and tree expert

Hmmm….. The
wound has filled
with cells forming
a tumour

This discovery forms the basis of plant tissue culture

 Establishing a tissue culture
Using sterile technique a piece
This mass of dividing cells forms a callus.
Of plant is cut = explant
Cells in the callus are totipotent – they can
differentiate into any sort of plant tissue
depending upon the signal we give them.

Small wound area. How can we

increase the wound area?

Make a longitudinal cut

MS medium – contains all of the salts

and organic molecules that plants
need to grow
 Effect of hormones on plant cell
differentiation
What will I be?

Auxin (IAA)
Cytokinin (kinetin)

Totipotent cell

Callus

Observe the tissue cultured cells on the following slide to determine the
effects auxin can induce in cells
 How auxin affects plant cells

Complete Q. 1 - 3

1. No Hormones 2. Low auxin 3. Low auxin 4. High Auxin

added No Cytokinin High cytokinin Low cytokinin
 Gravitropism

Plants responding to gravity

View and complete Q 4

How shoots respond to gravity

Statoliths are heavy

organelles that sediment
at the base of cells in
response to gravity.

This is how a plant knows

which way is down.
Auxin enters and leaves cells through channels

Auxin influx Auxin efflux

channel channel
A pathway for auxin accumulation in shoot
tissue

1. Statoliths fall to bottom of cell

2. The enzyme, Phospholipase, is

activated to snip off some lipid heads

3. Lipid head second messengers

stimulate auxin efflux channels to
move to base of cell

Enzyme
 Auxin leaves cells through efflux
transporters and accumulates at base of
shoot tissues

Complete Q. 5
 Plant shoot bends upwards in
response

In response to gravity, auxin

accumulates in cells on
lower side of shoot

Complete Q. 6
 Formulate a hypothesis
For a shoot to bend upwards it needs to grow
longer on the lower side.
What can happen to make one side grow
longer?
A.Is Auxin giving these cells a message to
divide?
A

OR
B. Is Auxin giving these cells a message to
elongate?
B
Complete Q. 7
Design an experiment to explore
action of auxin on oat shoots
Cut 10 mm
section here

Complete Q. 8
Design your
experiment

Treatment 1 Treatment 2

Incubate for 18 hours then find out average length of

shoots in each treatment
Complete Q. 9 - 11
 Preparing a thin longitudinal
section of coleoptile cells
1. Use a scalpel to slice thin length-wise sections of a coleoptile that was immersed
in water and one that was immersed in auxin.
2. Add 2 drops of methylene blue stain onto a slide.
3. Place a coleoptile section from each treatment on each drop,
and label treatments W and A.
4. Lower a coverslip onto the slide and view under the microscope at 100X.

Methylene blue Slide

Coleoptile
Cover slip
section

W A

Complete Q. 12 - 15
What’s happening in the roots?
Where is auxin
accumulating?
Complete Q. 14

Is the effect of auxin on root cells the

same as the effect on shoot cells?

Complete Q. 16 & 17
 Complete Q. 18 & 19

Auxin

These proteins promote cell elongation These proteins Inhibit cell elongation
Auxin
transporter

Root-specific
Shoot-specific Degradation proteins
proteins complex
Gene regulator Auxin
+ inhibitor receptor

Shoot-specific Root-specific Shoot-specific Root-specific

genes genes genes genes
Nucleus Nucleus
Cytoplasm Cytoplasm

Shoot cell Root cell