University of California, DavisJune 4, 2009
A gradient (red) in the concentration of the plant hormone auxin determines that only one of the eight nuclei in a plant’s embryo sac will become an egg.
A long-standing mystery surrounding a fundamental process in plant biology has been solved by a team of scientists at UC Davis.
The group's groundbreaking discovery that a plant hormone called auxin is responsible for egg production has several major implications.
First, this is the first definitive report of a plant hormone acting as a morphogen, that is, a substance that directs the pattern of development of cells based on its concentration.
Also, the study's results provide tantalizing new insights into the evolutionary pathway that flowering plants took 135 million years ago when they split off from gymnosperms, the "naked-seeded" plant group that includes conifers, cycads and ginkgo trees.
Finally, the group used their discovery to make additional egg cells within plant reproductive structures, raising the prospects that these techniques may someday be used for enhancing the reproduction and fertility of crop plants.
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