mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson) (04/29/89)
When I was in school, there were only five known plant hormones. I can only remember four: 1) florigen, which had been shown to exist through experiment, 2) kinetin, which also was only known through its effect, but was believed to consist of RNA fragments, 3) auxin, which was known through experiment and through discovery of synthetic auxins, and 4) FRH (fruit ripening hormone) which was the only hormone whose chemical structure was known (it is the 6-atom molecule ethylene). Can someone update me on plant hormones? How many are known to exist? If the list is short, please describe their name, chemical structure, and effects.
larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman) (04/30/89)
In article <17728@cup.portal.com>, mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson) writes: > When I was in school, there were only five known plant hormones. I can only > remember four: 1) florigen, which had been shown to exist through > experiment, 2) kinetin, which also was only known through its effect, but > was believed to consist of RNA fragments, 3) auxin, which was known through > experiment and through discovery of synthetic auxins, and 4) FRH (fruit > ripening hormone) which was the only hormone whose chemical structure was > known (it is the 6-atom molecule ethylene). > > Can someone update me on plant hormones? How many are known to exist? > If the list is short, please describe their name, chemical structure, > and effects. I'm not big on plants, but I'll see what I can remember... The first plant growth hormone that comes to mind is 3-indoleacetic acid. This is one variety of auxin, but there are other auxins. This substance is not unique to plants; it is also found in urine. Another plant growth hormone is gibberellin. A particular variety of gibberellin is - what else? - gibberellic acid. Another plant growth hormone is 6-furfurylaminopurine, which is also known as cytokinin or kinetin. Another plant growth hormone is abscisic acid, which is a type of pentadienoic acid. I have never heard of FRH (FSH, though :-) ) or florigen. All of the above plant growth hormones have different mechanisms of action; i.e., some stimulate roots, others leafs and stems, etc. I don't remember which hormone does what except that cytokinin definitely stimulates mitosis in both plant and animal cells. <> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp. <> UUCP: {allegra|ames|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry <> VOICE: 716/688-1231, 716/773-1700 {att|hplabs|utzoo}!/ <> FAX: 716/741-9635, 716/773-2488 "Have you hugged your cat today?"