Plant Growth Signaling

Peter Doerner (auth.), László Bögre, Gerrit Beemster (eds.)3540775897, 978-3-540-77589-8, 978-3-540-77590-4

Plant growth is of great economical and intellectual interest. Plants are the basis of our living environment, the production of our food and a myriad of plant-based natural products. Plant bio-mass is also becoming an important renewable energy resource.

Agricultural plant cultivation and breeding programs have altered plant productivity and yield parameters extensively, yet the principles and underlying mechanisms are not well understood. At the cellular level, growth is the result of only two processes, cell division and cell expansion, but these two processes are controlled by intertwined signaling cascades and regulatory mechanisms forming complex regulatory networks. Ultimately this network is what plant scientists are trying to unravel.

The sequencing of model and agronomically important plant genomes allows complete insight into the molecular components involved in each process. Methods to quantify the molecular changes, image growth processes and reconstruct growth regulatory networks are rapidly developing. This knowledge should help to elucidate key regulators and to design methods to engineer plant architecture and growth parameters for future human needs. This volume gives a comprehensive overview of what is known about plant growth regulation and growth restraints due to environmental conditions and should allow readers at all levels an entry into this exiting field of research.

Table of contents :
Front Matter….Pages I-XII
Signals and Mechanisms in the Control of Plant Growth….Pages 1-23
Control of Plant Organ Size….Pages 25-45
Control of Leaf Morphogenesis by Long- and Short-Distance Signaling: Differentiation of Leaves Into Sun or Shade Types and Compensated Cell Enlargement….Pages 47-62
Plant Growth Dynamics: Analysis of Basic Spatial and Temporal Growth Patterns on the Background of Photosynthetic Energy Gain and Interactions with the Environment….Pages 63-88
Keeping the Balance Between Proliferation and Differentiation by the E2F Transcriptional Regulatory Network is Central to Plant Growth and Development….Pages 89-105
Plant Cell Growth Signalling and Its Link to Ploidy….Pages 107-125
Epidermal Signalling and the Control of Plant Shoot Growth….Pages 127-153
Signaling in Auxin-Dependent Plant Development….Pages 155-178
Brassinosteroid Signaling….Pages 179-197
Ethylene: Inhibitor and Stimulator of Plant Growth….Pages 199-221
Light and the Control of Plant Growth….Pages 223-242
TOR Signaling in Plants….Pages 243-259
MAP Kinase Cascades Controlling Cell Division, Plant Growth and Development….Pages 261-275
Protein Phosphatases in Plant Growth Signalling Pathways….Pages 277-297
Armadillo Repeat Proteins: Versatile Regulators of Plant Development and Signalling….Pages 299-314
Mass Spectrometry Based Proteomics as a Tool for the Analysis of Protein–Protein Interactions in Signaling Processes….Pages 315-329
Signal Transduction Networks During Stress Responses in Arabidopsis : High-Throughput Analysis and Modelling….Pages 331-350
Cell Growth Control in an Algal Model….Pages 351-373
Back Matter….Pages 375-380