Plant Development: The Cellular Basis: 3 (Topics in Plant Physiology) - Tapa dura

The study of plant development in recent years has often been concerned with the effects of the environment and the possible involvement of growth substances. The prevalent belief that plant growth substances are crucial to plant development has tended to obscure rather than to clarify the underlying cellular mechanisms of development. The aim in this book is to try to focus on what is currently known, and what needs to be known, in order to explain plant development in terms that allow further experimentation at the cellular and molecular levels. We need to know where and at what level in the cell or organ the critical processes controlling development occur. Then, we will be better able to under­ stand how development is controlled by the genes, whether directly by the continual production of new gene transcripts or more indirectly by the genes merely defining self-regulating systems that then function autonomously. This book is not a survey of the whole of plant development but is meant to concentrate on the possible component cellular and molecular processes involved. Consequently, a basic knowledge of plant structure is assumed. The facts of plant morphogenesis can be obtained from the books listed in the General Reading section at the end of Chapter 1. Although references are not cited specifically in the text, the key references for each section are denoted by superscript numbers and listed in the Notes section at the end of each chapter.

"Plant Development" offers to students of plant physiology a concise and highly readable introduction to plant development. Focusing on events at the molecular and cellular levels, the book highlights some of the key processes operating in the formation of plants, and examines areas of research yielding a fuller understanding of the underlying regulatory mechanisms. While assuming a basic knowledge of plant morphology, the book describes a host developmental strategies across a spectrum of plant groups ranging from algae to higher plants. The opening chapters deal with the evolution of fundamental structure and highlights some of the related problems before leading into a careful consideration of meristem structure and function. Central chapters examine the control of plant shape and direction of growth, and provides a platform for the subsequent discussion of cell differentiation. Chapter 9 looks at genetic regulation of development, and the final section focuses on competence, determination and co-ordination of growth.