A Developmental Analysis of Cell Length as Related to Stem Length

Bindloss, Elizabeth A.

doi:10.1002/j.1537-2197.1942.tb13989.x

Cited by 13 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Most genetically large plants are so because of more rather than larger cells. Thus in the tall races of Lycopersicon and Zinnia studied by Bindloss (1942) there are many more cells, lengthwise, than in dwarf races, though the cells are somewhat shorter (Fig. 3-8).…”

Section: Growthmentioning

confidence: 92%

Plant morphogenesis

Sinnott¹

1960

255

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Biological organization is to be seen most distinctly in bodily development. It is obvious that, to produce an individual with a specific form and structure, growth must be more rapid in some directions than in others and must form tissues and organs of different character in different places. Embryology has shown how precisely the activities in one part of the developing individual are related to those in every other part. Few happenings in nature are as fascinating to watch as the unfolding and morphology. More commonly and properly, however, it includes, in addition to a discussion of purely descriptive facts as to the origin of form, a study of the results of experimentally controlled development and an analysis of the effects of the various factors, external and internal, that determine how the development of form proceeds. In other words, it attempts to get at the underlying formativeness in the development of organisms and especially to reach an understanding of the basic fact of which form is the most obvious manifestation-biological organization Workers with plants have a number of advantages, however. In plants, permanently embryonic regions, the meristems, are available for study. At the tip of shoot and root and in the cambial layers these are indeterminate and produce new plant structures almost indefinitely. Such meristems are usually numerous or extensive on the same plant so that ample material for the study of development, identical in genetic constitution, is available. Growth and differentiation in the development of a plant are thus continuing processes and not limited to a single and often brief life cycle.Organs such as leaves, flowers, and fruits, which are determinate in growth, pass through a cycle closely comparable to that of individual animals, and morphogenetic problems can also often profitably be studied in them. The fact that they are usually produced in abundance on a single plant is a further advantage, for here the investigator need not be concerned about genetic diversity in his material but can study strictly The Cellular Basis of Growth 33 structures such as tubers and fruits, the greater size is due to an increase in both the number and the size of their cells. Lehmann (1926) found a positive correlation between the size of a potato tuber and that of its cells. Since the increase in cell size was by no means proportional to that in tuber size, it was evident that large tubers have more as well as larger cells. The same relations are found in tomatoes (Houghtaling, 1935). A more detailed study of this problem, in large-fruited and small-fruited races of gourds, was made by Sinnott (1939; Fig. 3-4). Here cell size increases in the young ovary but much less rapidly than organ size, showing that cell division is taking place. During this period there is more increase in cell size in the larger races. The size at which the cells divide steadily increases. At about the time of flowering, however, division in most of the young fruit ceases, first in the central region and then prog...

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Section: Growthmentioning

confidence: 92%

Plant morphogenesis

Sinnott¹

1960

255

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“…In most genetic dwarfs studied (1, 10), including those in squash (6) and muskmelon3, the reduced stem elongation was primarily due to a reduction in cell number, cell length being affected to a lesser extent. A reduction in cell number has been reported to account entirely for the reduction in intemode length in a dwarf tomato (4).…”

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Inheritance and Morphology of Two Dwarf Mutants in Watermelon1

Liu

Loy

1972

J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci.

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An inheritance study of 2 dwarf mutants in watermelon showed that dwarfness in each form is due to single, non-allelic, recessive genes designated dw-1 and dw-2. Dwarfness in dw-1 and dw-2 plants was primarily attributed to reduced length of internodes, but there was also some reduction in the number of internodes in the dwarfs compared to the normal plants. The shorter internodes in dw-1 dwarfs were due to both fewer and shorter cells than in the internodes of vine forms. In the dw-2 dwarf most of the reduction in internode length was due to fewer cells.

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Shoot Histogenesis: The Early Effects of Gibberellin Upon Stem Elongation in Two Rosette Plants

Sachs

Bretz

Lang

1959

American J of Botany

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Sachs, Roy M., Charles F. Bretz, and Anton Lang. (U. California, Los Angeles.) Shoot histogenesis: The early effects of gibberellin upon stem elongation in two rosette plants. Amer. Jour. Bot. 46(5): 376–384. Illus. 1959.—Within 24 hr. after the application of gibberellic acid (GA) to vegetative plants of biennial Hyoscyamus and of the long‐day plant Samolus, a considerable increase in mitotic activity was observed in the pith, cortical, and vascular tissues of the rosette axis immediately below the apical meristem. As the treatment continued, the zone of cell division increased commensurate with the increase in length of the stem; the new cell divisions formed transverse walls predominantly and thus contributed to stem elongation. The cell contribution from the apical meristem was but a small fraction of the total produced by the subapical tissues, suggesting that the induced subapical mitotic activity is the main site of tissue development in the shoot. There was no evidence for cell elongation for at least 72 hr. after application of GA, and, hence, the initial increase in stem length was due solely to an increase in cell number. With regard to the general problem of shoot histogenesis, our data for the rosette plants and those for Xanthium and Chrysanthemum showing extensive cell division far below the apical meristem, are in full agreement with the studies by Bindloss (1942) with tomato, and support her conclusion that “. . . it is no longer possible to think that the chief center of cell division is in a relatively short zone 60 to 100 microns from the stem tip . . . and that cell division activity in the promeristem is not solely responsible for stem length.” On the contrary, the mitotic activity in the subapical regions is undoubtedly responsible for the major part of the cells found in the stem.

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A Developmental Analysis of Cell Length as Related to Stem Length

Cited by 13 publications

References 9 publications

Plant morphogenesis

Plant morphogenesis

Inheritance and Morphology of Two Dwarf Mutants in Watermelon1

Shoot Histogenesis: The Early Effects of Gibberellin Upon Stem Elongation in Two Rosette Plants

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