Synopses & Reviews
The main objective of the book is to provide an up-to-date examination of the possible roles of plant hormones during the cytodifferentiation of xylem and phloem elements in higher plants. Various facets of vascular differentiation, as cell determination, cell cycle activity, and the biochemical events in xylogenesis, are analyzed. Furthermore, the latest information on the roles of auxins, cytokinins, gibberellins, ethylene, and abscisic acid during vascular cell formation are summarized. A theoretical discussion of the six-point hypothesis and the vascular adaptation hypothesis is included. The experimental induction of vascular differentiation under tissue culture conditions is critically appraised and a concluding chapter covers the interactions between physical factors, growth regulators, and differentiation.
Synopsis
The vascular tissue of higher plants has been an object of continuous detailed study since the invention of the light microscope. As relevant new physical, chemical and biochemical techniques and concepts have appeared over the years, they have regularly and immediately been applied to this field of enquiry. The reasons are not far to seek. Vascular tissue provides the long-distance transport system for water and nutrients within the plant, and an understanding of the structure and development of the pathways within it is essential for an under- standing of growth in all higher plants, including crop plants. Moreover, parts of the vascular tissue - the whole of the xylem and the fibers of the proble- have been, and still are, in high demand commercially for their unique properties and as the only renewable structural material on earth. There are, in addition, more subtle ways in which xylogenesis, particularly as it allows the development of tree species, contributes to the environment. A few years ago, while walking in the foothills of the Pyrenees, I found all this expressed more elegantly than I can express it, in a plea carved in wood at the entrance to a forest: Homme Je suis la chaleur de ton foyer par les froids nuits d'hiver, l'ombrage ami lorsque brule Ie soleil d'ete, l'eau des rivieres et des sources. Je suis la charpente de ta maison, la planche de ta table.
Table of Contents
Contents: Xylem and Phloem Differentiation in Perspective.- Hormonal Aspects of Vascular Differentiation.- Vascular Differentiation Within the Plant.- Evidence from Wound Responses and Tissue Cultures.- Physical Factors, Hormones, and Differentiation.- Epilogue.- References.- Appendix: Abbreviations.- Subject Index.