Plant and animal responses 5.5 Flashcards
(plant) what are three examples of plant stimuli and their responses?
Stimuli:
- high temperature = thicker waxy cuticle
- strong wind = more lignin
- herbivory = chemical defences
(plant) What are three chemical defences for herbivory?
Chemical defences to herbivory:
- tannins
- pheromones
- alkaloids
(plant) what do tannins do?
Tannins can be toxic and make the leaf taste bad. They are found in the upper epidermis and roots
(plant) what do pheromones do?
Pheremones are released by plants and affect the behaviour and physiology of herbivores
What do alkaloids do?
Alkaloids are a feeding deterrenet as they make the plant taste bitter. they are found in the gowing tips, flowers and peripheral cells of stems and roots
What is a tropisms?
A tropism is a directional growth response
What are 4 examples of tropisms?
Phototropism- shoots grow towards light
Geotropism- roots grow towards the pull of gravity
Chemotropism- pollen tubes grow down the style towards the ovary
thigmotropism - shoots of climbing plants wind around structures for support
What is a nastic response and an example?
Nastic responses are non directional responses to a stimuli for example thigmonasty where leaves curl whenever touched
What do cytokinins do?
Cytokinins:
- promote cell division
- delay leaf senescence
- overcomes apical dominance
- promotes cell expansion
What does abscisic acid do?
Abscisic acid:
- inhibits seed germination and growth
- stomatal closure in times of water stress
What do auxins do?
Auxins:
- promote cell elongation
- inhibits growth of side shoots
- inhibits leaf abscission (leaf fall)
What do gibberellins and ethene do?
Gibberellins:
-promotes seed germination and stem growth
Ethene:
-promotes fruit ripening
What do synergic hormones do?
Synergic hormones amplify other hormones effects
What do antagonistic hormones do?
Antagonistic hormones cancel out other hormones effects
What is apical dominance?
Apical dominance = inhibition of lateral bud growth further down the shoot by chemicals produced in the apical bud at the tip of the shoot (breaking off the apex of the shoot causes growth of side shoots
What was the theory of auxins and plant growth (apical buds)?
It was thought auxins from the apical bud prevent lateral bud growth. When the tips were removed the auxins levels drop and the buds grow.
What were two experiments researchers did to support their auxins and apical growth?
Experiments supporting auxins in apical bud:
- applied auxin paste to a cut tip of a plant and saw that the lateral buds did not grow
- Applied auxin paste to cut tip of plant and then added auxin transport inhibitor and the lateral buds grew
How is ABSCISIC ACID relevant in the updated theory of apical dominance and auxins?
-Abscisic acid inhibits lateral bud growth and auxins keep the level of abscisic acid high in the bud. When the tip is removed the levels of abscisic acid drop so it can no longer inhibit lateral bud growth
How is CYTOKININS relevant in the updated theory of apical dominance and auxins?
-Cytokinins promote bud growth and when there is high auxins the apex becomes a sink for the cytokinins so growth is restricted to the apex, when the tip is removed the cytokinins spread evenly
What are the 2 functions of gibberellins?
Gibberellins:
- stem elongation
- seed germination
Describe how gibberellins affect seed germination
Seed germination:
- seed absorbs water
- embryo releases gibberellins which travel towards the aleurone layer in the endosperm region
- gibberellin enables amylase production (amylase converts starch to glucose)
- the glucose provides a substrate for respiration for the embryo as it grows
what is the synthesis pathways for gibberellins that causes stem elongation?
Synthesis pathway for gibberellins:
- ent kaurene
- GA -12 aldehyde
- GA -20
- –enzyme caused by Le—- - GA-1 ( stem growth)
What does G1 cause and what is it?
GA 1 is gibberellic acid and causes plants to grow TALL
What gene is responsible for producing the enzyme converting GA -20 to GA -1?
Le gene produces the enzymes that converts GA-20 to GA-1 and therefore what causes the plant to grow tall
How did researchers prove GA-1 directly causes stem growth?
- chose LeLe plant that had a mutation where the transition from ent kaurene to GA -12 aldehyde was blocked so produced no GA-1 so were short despite having Le
- chose lele plant which was short due to absence of Le gene so they lack enzyme converting GA -20 to GA-1
- grafter and joined the two plants
- plant grew really tall as the lele plant now had the enzyme that converted GA-20 to GA-1 from the mutated LeLe plant
What are the heights of: -LeLe -lele -mutated LeLe and why?
- LeLe = tall as Le causes production of enzymes converting GA-20 to GA-1
- lele = short as the lack of Le means no production of GA-1 so cant get tall
- mutated LeLe = short as conversion of ent kaurene to GA-12 aldehyde is blocked so GA-1 is never produced despite still having everything else that’s needed
Where does plant growth occur/
Plant growth occurs in meristmatic tissue as the cell wall limits the cells ability to divide and expand
Where is the meristematic tissue?
Meristems:
- Apical meristems at the tips of plants (roots and shoots)
- Lateral bud meristems found in side buds
- Intercalary meristems at internodes. this is responsible for shoots getting longer
- Lateral meristems are in cylinders and are responsible for shots and roots getting wider
What are 3 things you need in an inverstigation?
- dependent variable
- independent variable
- control condition
Whats a basic investigation into phototropisms?
Phototropiusm investigation:
- positive control condition where plant is illuminated from all sides
- Experimental condition has illumination from one side only
- mark roots and shoots every 2mm before start
- side away from light has elongated gaps
Whats a basic investigation into geotropisms?
Investigation into geotropisms:
- Control condition has klinostat rotating so gravity is exerted equally on the plant so shoots and roots grow horizontal
- Experimental condition has the klinostat turned off so that gravity is only acting on one part of the plant and roots bend down and shoots bend up
What part of the plant is elongation faster in?
Elongation is faster in cells on the outside of the bend, the side away from light
What was darwin’s investigation into plant hormones?
Role of the tip in phototropism:
-control with plant left alone BENT
-plant tip cut off DID NOT BEND
-tip covered by opaque cover DID NOT BEND
-tip covered by transparent cover BENT
-base covered by opaque cover BENT
All had light coming from the same direction and he concluded shoot tip is responsible for phototropism
What did boysen jensen add to darwins investigation into the role of the tip in phototropism?
Role of the tip in phototropism (boysen jensen)
-Tip separated by gelatin block (permeable) BENT
-tip separated by mica that’s impermeable to water and solutes DID NOT BEND
Concluded water and solutes needed to move from the tip back down the plant for phototropism to occur
What was Went’s investigation?
Went used blocks infused with different concentrations of auxin and found shoot curvature proportional to the concentration of auxin in the block
Describe the mechanisms of auxins effect.
Mechanism if auxin:
- light causes auxin to transport towards the shaded side of the plant
- auxin causes active transport of H+ into the cell wall by ATPase
- pH of cell wall drops causing disruption to H bonds in cellulose and an optimum pH for expansins enzymes which loosen cell walls by digesting it slightly
- wall becomes less rigid allowing cells to elongate as they take up water
How is it thought auxins move?
Auxin movement:
- phototropin 1 and phototropin 2 are promoted by blue light which is in sunlight. They are therefore more active on the light side (allowing auxin to move to shaded side)
- These influence pinoid proteins which control pin proteins
- Pin proteins are channels used to auxin to get through the plasma membrane and these pin can be distributed differently
Discuss auxins in geotropisms
Auxins and geotropism:
-Gravity causes auxin t accumulate on the lower side of the SHOOT causes cell elongation here so it bends upwards
-auxin inhibits cell elongation in roots so they bend down
Cells in the roots and shoots are specialised to respond to auxins concentrations differently
What can auxins be use for as a commercial use>
Commercial use of auxins:
- prevent fruit and leaf drop
- promote flowering
- make cutting grow
- parthenocarpy (seedless fruit)
- use as herbicides to over elongate stems until they buckle
What are the commercial uses of cytokinins?
Commercial use of cytokinins:
- prevent yellowing of lettuce leaves
- plant mass production by promoting bud and shoot growth
What are the commercial uses of gibberllins?
Commercial uses of gibberllins: -delay senescence of citrus fruits -elongate apples -make less compact grape stalks -Brewing -Sugar procuction -plant breeding Inhibitors keep plants short and stocky
Explain brewing, sugar production and plant breeding by gibberellins?
Gibberelins:
- Brewing= amylase breaks down starch into maltose
- sugar production stimulates growth between nodes
- plant breeding= induces seed formation on young trees before they naturally would and induce seed formation on binneal plants