Phytohormones in Plant Biotechnology and Agriculture : Proceedings of the NATO-Russia Workshop Held in Moscow, 12–16 May 2002

Phytohormone research is a crucially important area of plant sciences. Phytohormones are one of the key systems integrating metabolic and developmental events in the whole plant and the response of plants to external factors. Thus, they influence the yield and quality of crops. During the last decade we have slowly begun to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying phytohormone action, largely as a result of the rapid developments that have been made internationally in the field of plant molecular genetics. Putative receptor proteins for ethylene (1993- 95), brassinosteroids (1997) and cytokinins (2001) have been identified and the genes that encode them cloned. Primary response genes and elements of hormonal signal transduction have also been identified for most known phytohormones. There is now little doubt that phytohormones, like their animal counterparts, function as signal molecules and create a signalling network in the whole plant organism. The in vivo activity of hormones depends, among other things, on their rate of biosynthesis and metabolism, and on their transport into and out of target cells. Consequently, genes and enzymes involved in these processes are of particular interest. In recent years a number of genes encoding enzymes for the synthesis, modification and degradation of different phytohormones have been cloned and identified, as have genes encoding proteins involved in phytohormone transport and its regulation. Some classes of phytohormone have been shown to participate in stress reactions and can increase the resistance of plants to unfavorable environmental factors. Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Hormonal Regulation of Plant Development in the Studies by M. Kh. Chailakhyan....Pages 3-7 The Plant Hormones: From Original Concept to a Molecular Flowering....Pages 9-30 Three Roles for Gibberellin in Flowering....Pages 31-39 The Role of Gibberellin-Regulated Gene Expression During Anther and Early Flower Development in Tomato....Pages 41-47 Involvement of Gibberellins in Development and Senescence of Rose Flowers....Pages 49-56 Potato Tuberization: Evidence for a SD-Dependent and a Gibberellin-Dependent Pathway of Induction....Pages 57-66 Investigation on the Chemical Nature of Flower-Inducing Factor(S) in Short-Day Plant Pharbitis nil ....Pages 67-78 Occurrence and Putative Role of Melatonin in Plants....Pages 79-87 Informational Signalling in Stem Apical Meristems of Plants During Transition to Flowering....Pages 89-93 Front Matter....Pages 95-95 Cytokinin as a Regulatory Factor for Yield and Biomass Distribution in Crop Plants....Pages 97-108 Exploitation of Mechanisms Regulating Cytokinin Levels to Improve Cereals....Pages 109-128 Primary Alcohols, Substrates for Phospholipase D-Catalyzed Transphosphatidylation, Suppress the Cytokinin Action....Pages 129-139 Front Matter....Pages 141-141 Physiological and Molecular Genetic Aspects of Auxin Transport: Recent Developments....Pages 143-155 Role of Calcium Ions in Plant Growth and Mechanism of IAA Action....Pages 157-169 Transgenic Plants of Modified Auxin Status and Enhanced Productivity....Pages 171-183 Cell Wall Extensibility Changes by Hormonal and Non-Hormonal Factors....Pages 185-191 Front Matter....Pages 193-193 Hormonal Regulation of Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) and Inter-Organ Stress Signal Transduction....Pages 195-203 Monomeric G-Proteins and Map Kinases are Involved in Ethylene Signal Transduction....Pages 205-216 Rosette Leaf Senescence in Wild Type and an Ethylene-Insensitive Mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana during Inflorescence and Fruit Development....Pages 217-228 Involvement of Hormones in the Increase in Plant Productivity Induced by Localised Fertilizer Placement....Pages 229-235 Front Matter....Pages 193-193 Distribution of Phytohormones among Different Plant Organs Determines the Development of Competitive Sinks in Radish Plants....Pages 237-241 Hormonal Regulation of Somatic Embryogenesis on Maize....Pages 243-247 Phytohormones and Cytoskeleton....Pages 249-253 Regulation of Male Gametophyte Development in Angiosperma: The Role of Intracellular pH and Transmembrane Chloride Transport....Pages 255-258 Activity of Racemase and Appearance of N-Malonyl-D-Tryptophan during Osmotic Stress and Drought Conditions....Pages 259-265 The book brings the up-to-date information about some aspects of regulation of flowering, especially about the role of gibberellins; about agricultural aspects of cytokinin functioning, namely their role in yield formation in cereals; about some signalling systems involved in cytokinin, auxin and ethylene signalling. It contains a review on auxin transport and on transgenic plants with modified levels of auxins and several papers concerning hormones and stress or hormones and cellular structures. As the workshop was held in Moscow, the book represents also a good source of information about research in Russia in the field of phytohormones