LECTURE PRESENTATIONS

For CAMPBELL BIOLOGY, NINTH EDITION

Jane B. Reece, Lisa A. Urry, Michael L. Cain, Steven A. Wasserman, Peter V. Minorsky, Robert B. Jackson

Chapter 39

Plant Responses to Internal and

External Signals

Lectures by
Erin Barley
Kathleen Fitzpatrick

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Overview: Stimuli and a Stationary Life
• Linnaeus noted that flowers of different species
opened at different times of day and could be used
as a___________________, or floral clock
• Plants, being rooted to the ground, must respond
to _______________________that come their way
– For example, the ___________________toward
light begins with sensing the direction, quantity,
and color of the light

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Concept 39.1: Signal transduction pathways
link signal reception to response
• A potato left growing in darkness produces
shoots that look unhealthy, and it lacks
elongated roots
• These are morphological adaptations for
growing in darkness, collectively called
_____________
• After exposure to light, a potato undergoes
changes called ________________, in which
shoots and roots grow normally

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Figure 39.2

(a) Before exposure to light (b) After a week’s exposure

to natural daylight
 • A potato’s response to light is an example of
___________________________
• The stages are _________________________
_____________________

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Figure 39.3

CELL CYTOPLASM
WALL

1 Reception 2 Transduction 3 Response

Relay proteins and Activation

of cellular
second messengers responses

Receptor

Hormone or
environmental
stimulus Plasma membrane
Reception
• Internal and external signals are detected by
______________, proteins that change in
response to specific stimuli
• In ___________________, the receptor is
_________________ capable of detecting light

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Transduction
• ____________________ transfer and amplify
signals from receptors to proteins that cause
responses
• Two types of second messengers play an
important role in de-etiolation: ______ ions and
___________ (cGMP)
• The ___________ receptor responds to light by
– Opening _________________, which
increases Ca2+ levels in the cytosol
– Activating an enzyme that produces ________

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Figure 39.4-3

1 Reception 2 Transduction 3 Response

CYTOPLASM Transcription
factor 1 NUCLEUS
Plasma cGMP P
membrane Protein
kinase 1
Second Transcription
Phytochrome messenger factor 2
P
Cell
wall
Protein
kinase 2 Transcription
Light

Translation

Ca2 channel De-etiolation

(greening)
response proteins

Ca2
Response
• A ____________________leads to regulation of
one or more cellular activities
• In most cases, these responses to stimulation
involve increased activity of _____________
• This can occur by ________________
regulation or __________________________
modification

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Post-Translational Modification of
Preexisting Proteins
• _________________ modification involves
modification of existing proteins in the signal
response
• Modification often involves the
___________________of specific amino acids
• The second messengers cGMP and Ca2+
activate ______________________directly

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Transcriptional Regulation
• Specific _____________________bind directly to
specific regions of DNA and control transcription of
genes
• Some transcription factors are __________that
increase the transcription of specific genes
• Other transcription factors are ________________that
decrease the transcription of specific genes

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De-Etiolation (“Greening”) Proteins
• De-etiolation activates _______________that
– Function in _____________________directly
– Supply the chemical precursors for
________production
– Affect the levels of plant
________________________ that regulate growth

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Concept 39.2: Plant hormones help
coordinate growth, development, and
responses to stimuli
• Plant ___________are chemical signals that
modify or control one or more specific
physiological processes within a plant

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The Discovery of Plant Hormones
• Any response resulting in curvature of organs
toward or away from a stimulus is called a
_________________
• In the late 1800s, Charles Darwin and his son
Francis conducted experiments on
_________________, a plant’s response to light
• They observed that a grass seedling could bend
toward light only if the ________________was
present

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 • They postulated that a ___________ was
transmitted from the tip to the elongating region

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Figure 39.5

RESULTS
Shaded
Control side

Light

Illuminated Boysen-Jensen
side

Light

Darwin and Darwin

Light
Gelatin Mica
(permeable) (impermeable)

Tip Opaque Trans- Opaque

removed cap parent shield over
cap curvature
 • In 1913, Peter Boysen-Jensen demonstrated that the
signal was a mobile _______________ _______________

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 • In 1926, Frits Went extracted the chemical messenger
for phototropism, _____________, by modifying earlier
experiments

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Figure 39.6
RESULTS
Excised tip on
agar cube

Growth-promoting
chemical diffuses
into agar cube

Control
(agar cube
lacking Offset
Control chemical) cubes
A Survey of Plant Hormones
• Plant hormones are produced in very _______
_____________________, but a minute amount
can greatly affect growth and development of a
plant organ
• In general, hormones control plant __________
_____________________by affecting the
______________________________of cells

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Table 39.1
Auxin
• The term _______ refers to any chemical that
promotes elongation of coleoptiles
• _____________________is a common auxin in
plants; in this lecture the term auxin refers
specifically to IAA
• Auxin is produced in ______________and is
transported down the stem
• __________________________move the
hormone from the basal end of one cell into the
apical end of the neighboring cell

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 The Role of Auxin in Cell Elongation
• According to the ___________________, auxin
stimulates proton pumps in the plasma
membrane
• The proton pumps lower the pH in the cell wall,
activating ______________, enzymes that
loosen the wall’s fabric
• With the cellulose loosened, the cell can
______________________

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Figure 39.8

Cross-linking Cell wall–loosening

polysaccharides enzymes Expansin

CELL WALL

Cellulose
microfibril

H2O
H Plasma
H

membrane
H Cell wall
H

H
H  H
H

ATP Plasma membrane Nucleus Cytoplasm

H Vacuole
CYTOPLASM
 • Auxin also alters ____________________and
stimulates a sustained growth response

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 Auxin’s Role in Plant Development
• ___________________of auxin plays a role in
pattern formation of the developing plant
• Reduced auxin flow from the shoot of a branch
stimulates growth in _______________________
• Auxin transport plays a role in _____________, the
arrangement of leaves on the stem
• Polar transport of auxin from leaf margins directs
_______________________ pattern
• The activity of the _____________________is under
control of auxin transport

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 Practical Uses for Auxins
• The auxin _____________________stimulates
adventitious roots and is used in vegetative
propagation of plants by cuttings
• An overdose of synthetic auxins can kill plants
– For example ______________ is used as an
herbicide on eudicots

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Cytokinins
• _______________ are so named because
they stimulate cytokinesis (cell division)

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 Control of Cell Division and Differentiation
• Cytokinins are produced in _____________
tissues such as roots, embryos, and fruits
• Cytokinins work together with auxin to control
cell division and differentiation

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 Control of Apical Dominance
• _______________________interact in the
control of apical dominance, a terminal bud’s
ability to suppress development of axillary buds
• If the terminal bud is removed, plants become
bushier

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 Anti-Aging Effects
• Cytokinins ____________________of some plant
organs by inhibiting protein breakdown,
stimulating RNA and protein synthesis, and
mobilizing nutrients from surrounding tissues

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Gibberellins
• ______________have a variety of effects,
such as stem elongation, fruit growth,
and seed germination

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 Fruit Growth
• In many plants, both _________________must
be present for fruit to develop
• Gibberellins are used in spraying of Thompson
seedless grapes

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 Germination
• After water is imbibed, release of _____________
from the embryo signals seeds to germinate

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Figure 39.11

Aleurone
Endosperm 1 2 3

-amylase Sugar
GA

GA
Water

Scutellum Radicle
(cotyledon)
Brassinosteroids
• _______________________ are chemically
similar to the sex hormones of animals
• They induce cell elongation and division in stem
segments
• They slow leaf abscission and promote xylem
differentiation

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Abscisic Acid
• ______________________ slows growth
• Two of the many effects of ABA
– ________________
– ________________

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 Seed Dormancy
• Seed dormancy ensures that the seed will
germinate only in _______________________
• In some seeds, dormancy is broken when ABA
is ____________________ by heavy rain, light,
or prolonged cold
• ____________________________can be
caused by inactive or low levels of ABA

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 Drought Tolerance
• __________ is the primary internal signal that
enables plants to withstand drought
• ABA accumulation causes ______________ to
close rapidly

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Strigolactones
• The hormones called ____________________
• Stimulate seed germination
– Help establish mycorrhizal associations
– Help control apical dominance
• Strigolactones are named for parasitic Striga
plants
• Striga seeds germinate when host plants
exude _________________through their roots

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Ethylene
• Plants produce _____________ in response to
stresses such as drought, flooding, mechanical
pressure, injury, and infection
• The effects of ethylene include response to
mechanical stress, senescence, leaf abscission,
and fruit ripening

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 The Triple Response to Mechanical Stress
• Ethylene induces the ________________, which
allows a growing shoot to avoid obstacles
• The triple response consists of a __________
_________________, a ________________of
the stem, and __________________________

© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

Figure 39.13

0.00 0.10 0.20 0.40 0.80

Ethylene concentration (parts per million)

 Senescence
• ________________ is the programmed death
of cells or organs
• A burst of _________________is associated
with ___________________, the programmed
destruction of cells, organs, or whole plants

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 Leaf Abscission
• A change in the balance of auxin and ethylene
controls ________________, the process that
occurs in autumn when a leaf falls

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Figure 39.15

0.5 mm

Protective layer Abscission layer

Stem Petiole
 Fruit Ripening
• A burst of _________________ production in a
fruit triggers the ripening process
• Ethylene triggers ripening, and ripening triggers
release of more ethylene
• Fruit producers can control ripening by picking
green fruit and controlling ethylene levels

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 Systems Biology and Hormone Interactions
• Interactions between hormones and signal
transduction pathways make it hard to predict
how genetic manipulation will affect a plant
• ______________________________seeks a
comprehensive understanding that permits
modeling of plant functions

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Concept 39.3: Responses to light are critical
for plant success
• ___________ cues many key events in plant
growth and development
• Effects of light on plant morphology are called
_________________________

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 • Plants detect not only presence of light but also
its _______________________________(color)
• A graph called an __________________depicts
relative response of a process to different
wavelengths
• Action spectra are useful in studying any
process that depends on light

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Figure 39.16
1.0 436 nm

Phototropic effectiveness
0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
400 450 500 550 600 650 700

Wavelength (nm)
(a) Phototropism action spectrum

Light

Time  0 min

Time  90 min

(b) Coleoptiles before and after light exposures

 • Different plant responses can be mediated by
the same or different photoreceptors
• There are two major classes of light receptors:
____________________and
____________________

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Phytochromes as Photoreceptors
• ___________________are pigments that regulate
many of a plant’s responses to light throughout its
life
• These responses include seed germination and
shade avoidance

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Phytochromes and Seed Germination
• Many seeds remain dormant until ____________
conditions change
• In the 1930s, scientists at the U.S. Department of
Agriculture determined the action spectrum for
light-induced germination of lettuce seeds

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 • ________ light increased germination, while far-
red light inhibited germination
• The photoreceptor responsible for the opposing
effects of red and far-red light is a phytochrome

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Figure 39.18

Two identical subunits

Chromophore

Photoreceptor activity

Kinase activity
 • Phytochromes exist in two ________________
_____________, with conversion of Pr to Pfr
triggering many developmental responses
• _______ light triggers the conversion of Pr to Pfr
• _______ light triggers the conversion of Pfr to Pr
• The conversion to Pfr is faster than the
conversion to Pr
• Sunlight increases the ratio of Pfr to Pr, and
triggers germination

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Figure 39.19

Pr Pfr
Red light
Responses:
seed
Synthesis germination,
control of
flowering, etc.
Far-red
light

Slow conversion Enzymatic

in darkness destruction
(some plants)
Biological Clocks and Circadian Rhythms
• Many plant processes _________during the day
• Many legumes lower their leaves in the evening
and raise them in the morning, even when kept
under constant light or dark conditions

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Figure 39.20

Noon Midnight
 • __________________ are cycles that are
about 24 hours long and are governed by an
internal “clock”
• Circadian rhythms can be entrained to exactly
24 hours by the day/night cycle
• The clock may depend on synthesis of a
protein regulated through feedback control and
may be common to all eukaryotes

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The Effect of Light on the Biological Clock
• ________________________marks sunrise
and sunset, providing the biological clock with
environmental cues

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Photoperiodism and Responses to Seasons
• _________________, the relative lengths of
night and day, is the environmental stimulus
plants use most often to detect the time of year
• _________________is a physiological response
to photoperiod

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Photoperiodism and Control of Flowering
• Some processes, including ______________in
many species, require a certain photoperiod
• Plants that flower when a light period is shorter
than a critical length are called ____________
• Plants that flower when a light period is longer
than a certain number of hours are called _______
_____________________
• Flowering in __________________ is controlled
by plant maturity, not photoperiod

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 Critical Night Length
• In the 1940s, researchers discovered that
flowering and other responses to photoperiod
are actually controlled by ____________, not
day length

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 • ______________ plants are governed by
whether the critical night length sets a
______________ number of hours of darkness
• ________________ plants are governed by
whether the critical night length sets a
_____________ number of hours of darkness

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 • ______ light can interrupt the nighttime portion
of the photoperiod
• A flash of red light followed by a flash of far-red
light does not disrupt night length
• Action spectra and photoreversibility
experiments show that _______________is the
pigment that receives red light

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 • Some plants flower after only a _______
exposure to the required photoperiod
• Other plants need _____________________of
the required photoperiod
• Still others need an ____________________ in
addition to the required photoperiod
– For example, ______________________ is a
pretreatment with cold to induce flowering

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A Flowering Hormone?
• ___________________ is detected by
leaves, which cue buds to develop as flowers
• The flowering signal is called ____________
• Florigen may be a macromolecule governed
by the FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) gene

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Figure 39.23

24 hours 24 hours 24 hours

Graft

Short-day Long-day plant Long-day

plant grafted to plant
short-day plant
Concept 39.4: Plants respond to a wide
variety of stimuli other than light
• Because of immobility, plants must adjust to a range
of environmental circumstances through
________________________________ mechanisms

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Gravity
• Response to gravity is known as ____________
• __________ show positive gravitropism;
__________ show negative gravitropism
• Plants may detect gravity by the settling of
__________________, dense cytoplasmic
components

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Figure 39.24

Statoliths
20 m

(a) Primary root of maize (b) Statoliths settling to

bending gravitropically the lowest sides of
(LMs) root cap cells (LMs)
Mechanical Stimuli
• The term ______________________ refers to
changes in form that result from mechanical
disturbance
• Rubbing stems of young plants a couple of
times daily results in plants that are shorter than
controls

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Figure 39.25
 • ______________is growth in response to touch
• It occurs in vines and other climbing plants
• Another example of a touch specialist is the
sensitive plant Mimosa pudica, which folds its
leaflets and collapses in response to touch
• Rapid leaf movements in response to
mechanical stimulation are examples of
transmission of electrical impulses called
_______________________

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Figure 39.26

(a) Unstimulated state (b) Stimulated state

Side of pulvinus
with flaccid cells
Leaflets
after Side of pulvinus
stimulation with turgid cells
Pulvinus Vein
(motor
organ)

0.5 m
(c) Cross section of a leaflet pair in the stimulated state (LM)
Environmental Stresses
• ________________________ have a potentially
adverse effect on survival, growth, and reproduction
• Stresses can be ____________(nonliving) or
____________ (living)
• ________________stresses include drought,
flooding, salt stress, heat stress, and cold stress
• ________________stresses include herbivores
and pathogens

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Drought
• During drought, plants reduce _____________
by closing stomata, slowing leaf growth, and
reducing exposed surface area
• Growth of shallow roots is inhibited, while
________________ continue to grow

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Flooding
• ______________________ of root cortex cells
creates air tubes that help plants survive
oxygen deprivation during flooding

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Figure 39.27

Vascular
cylinder

Air tubes

Epidermis

100 m 100 m
(a) Control root (aerated) (b) Experimental root (nonaerated)
Salt Stress
• Salt can lower the water potential of the soil
solution and ____________________
• Plants respond to salt stress by ____________
_____________ tolerated at high concentrations
• This process keeps the water potential of cells
_________________ than that of the soil solution

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Heat Stress
• Excessive heat can _____________ a plant’s
enzymes
• ______________________ help protect other
proteins from heat stress

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Cold Stress
• Cold temperatures decrease _________________
• Altering ______________________ of
membranes is a response to cold stress
• Freezing causes _____ to form in a plant’s cell
walls and intercellular spaces
• Many plants, as well as other organisms, have
____________________ that prevent ice crystals
from growing and damaging cells

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Concept 39.5: Plants respond to attacks by
herbivores and pathogens
• Plants use defense systems to deter __________
___________________, and combat __________

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Defenses Against Herbivores
• __________________, animals eating plants, is a
stress that plants face in any ecosystem
• Plants counter excessive herbivory with physical
defenses, such as ______________
______________, and chemical defenses, such as
distasteful or ___________________
• Some plants even “____________” predatory
animals that help defend against specific
herbivores

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 • Plants damaged by insects can release ______
_________________to warn other plants of the
same species
• Arabidopsis can be genetically engineered to
produce volatile components that attract
predatory mites

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Defenses Against Pathogens
• A plant’s first line of defense against infection is
the barrier presented by the ______________
______________
• If a pathogen penetrates the dermal tissue, the
second line of defense is a _______________
that kills the pathogen and prevents its spread
• This second defense system is enhanced by the
plant’s ability to ___________certain pathogens

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Host-Pathogen Coevolution
• A _____________ pathogen is one that a plant
has little specific defense against
• An ______________ pathogen is one that may
harm but does not kill the host plant

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Systemic Acquired Resistance
• ______________________causes systemic
expression of defense genes and is a long-
lasting response
• ______________________ is synthesized
around the infection site and is likely the signal
that triggers systemic acquired resistance

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Figure 39.UN03