Plant Hormone Protocols

Established investigators from around the world describe in step-by-step detail their best techniques for the study of plant hormones and their regulatory activities. These state-of-the-art methods include contemporary approaches to identifying the biosynthetic pathways of plant hormones, monitoring their levels, characterizing the receptors with which they interact, and analyzing the signaling systems by which they exert their effects. Comprehensive and fully detailed for reproducible laboratory success, Plant Hormone Protocols offers plant biologists an indispensable compendium of today's most powerful methods and strategies to studying plant hormones, their regulation, and their activities.

Given the rapid increase in our understanding of plant hormone biology, this second edition of a comprehensive review could not have come at a better time. In its chapters, expert researchers explore the latest approaches to understanding plant hormone action.

Plant hormones play a crucial role in controlling the way in which plants growand develop. Whilemetabolism providesthepowerand buildingblocks for plant life, it is the hormones that regulate the speed of growth of the individual parts and integrate these parts to produce the form that we recognize as a plant. In addition, theyplayacontrolling role inthe processes of reproduction. This book is a description ofthese natural chemicals: how they are synthesizedand metabolized; howthey work; whatwe knowoftheir molecular biology; how we measure them; and a description ofsome ofthe roles they play in regulating plant growth and development. Emphasis has also been placed on the new findings on plant hormones deriving from the expanding use ofmolecular biology as a tool to understand these fascinating regulatory molecules. Even at the present time, when the role of genes in regulating all aspects of growth and development is considered of prime importance, it is still clear that the path of development is nonetheless very much under hormonal control, either via changes in hormone levels in response to changes in gene transcription, or with the hormones themselves as regulators ofgene transcription. This is not a conference proceedings, but a selected collection ofnewly written, integrated, illustrated reviews describing our knowledge of plant hormones, and the experimental work that is the foundation of this knowledge.

Plant growth is regulated by developmental programmes that can be modified by environmental cues acting through endogenous signaling molecules including plant hormones. This volume provides an overview of the biosynthesis, catabolism, perception and signal transduction of the individual hormone classes, followed by chapters on hormone distribution and transport, and the roles of hormone signaling in specific developmental processes. Particular attention is paid to the regulation of hormone signaling by environmental and developmental cues, sites of hormone metabolism and action, and interactions between hormone signaling pathways. The book is directed at researchers and professionals in plant biochemistry and molecular biology.

In a convenient, single-source reference, this book examines plant growth substances and their relationship to a wide range of physiological processes, ranging from seed germination through the death of the plant. If offers a clear illustration of the pragmatic uses of plant substances in agriculture and demonstrates how basic laboratory research has translated into increased production and profit for the grower. This work begins by building a solid foundation in the subject, which contains historical aspects and fundamental concepts, and provides a methodology for extraction, purification, and quantification of plant growth substances. This forms the basis for understanding the ensuing chapters that explore the many processes involving plant growth substances, including: * seed germination * seedling growth * rooting * dormancy * juvenility * maturity * senescence * flowering * abscission * fruit set * fruit growth * fruit development * premature drop * ripening * promotion of fruit drop * tuberization * photsynthesis * weed control. Providing a detailed examination of plant growth substances and their relationships to specific physiological plant processes, Plant Growth Substances gives students, researchers, and professionals a much needed reference.

The last 10 years have witnessed an explosion in our understanding of plant h- mones. The often vague models of hormone action developedover decadeshave been replaced in short order by detailed molecular models that include receptors and in many cases downstream signal transduction components. Given the rapid progress in understanding the mechanism of action of plant growth regulators, a technical review of hormone methodology is timely. Our book focuses on genetic, biochemical, ana- tical and chemical biological approaches for understanding and dissecting plant h- mone action. The greatest strides in plant hormone biology have come, by and large, from the use of genetic methods to identify receptors and we dedicate a chapter to general genetic methods of analysis using the model system Arabidopsis thaliana. A cluster of chapters focuses on biochemical methods for documenting interactions betweenhormonesand their receptors. Theimportance of these assays is tremendous; receptor–ligand interactions in animal model systems have been the cornerstones of pharmacological and medicinal chemical assays that have enabled identification of selective and non-selective agonists and antagonists that can be used to further probe and dissect questions of receptor function. This is likely to be a major new frontier in plant hormone research.

This detailed volume compiles state-of-the-art methodologies for the study of brassinosteroid hormones, contributed by recognized researchers in the field, in order to bring together different experimental and theoretical biology techniques for addressing the questions of how brassinosteroids function in Arabidopsis and other agriculturally valuable species, such as rice and sorghum. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, Brassinosteroids: Methods and Protocols assesses a wide range of appealing methodologies for experts as well as researchers with a general interest in hormone signaling in plants.

Plant hormones play a crucial role in controlling the way in which plants grow and develop. While metabolism provides the power and building blocks for plant life, it is the hormones that regulate the speed of growth of the individual parts and integrate them to produce the form that we recognize as a plant. This book is a description of these natural chemicals: how they are synthesized and metabolized, how they act at both the organismal and molecular levels, how we measure them, a description of some of the roles they play in regulating plant growth and development, and the prospects for the genetic engineering of hormone levels or responses in crop plants. This is an updated revision of the third edition of the highly acclaimed text. Thirty-three chapters, including two totally new chapters plus four chapter updates, written by a group of fifty-five international experts, provide the latest information on Plant Hormones, particularly with reference to such new topics as signal transduction, brassinosteroids, responses to disease, and expansins. The book is not a conference proceedings but a selected collection of carefully integrated and illustrated reviews describing our knowledge of plant hormones and the experimental work that is the foundation of this information. The Revised 3rd Edition adds important information that has emerged since the original publication of the 3rd edition. This includes information on the receptors for auxin, gibberellin, abscisic acid and jasmonates, in addition to new chapters on strigolactones, the branching hormones, and florigen, the flowering hormone.

These volumes contain a wealth of information that will be of unrivaled value as authoritative texts and comprehensive laboratory guides for day-to-day reference by those with interests in endogenous plant hormones. They will also be of value to those with more general interests in analytical chemistry, as the techniques that are described and the philosophy underlying the design of analytical protocols are of relevance to the analysis of almost all naturally occurring organic compounds.