PLANTBI 40 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Seed Dormancy, Norman Borlaug, Ethylene
7 Aug 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Gibberellins were discovered in the late 19th century. Japanese rice growers noted some very tall seedlings in their rice fields. They became very excited because they thought the bigger plants might produce bigger rice grains. However, the plants grew too rapidly and then died. The plants were actually diseased, so they called it foolish seedling disease . In the 1920"s they figured out the disease was due to infection with a fungus that they called gibberella fujikawa because the fungus produced a compound they called gibberellic acid (ga). The fungal compound pointed out a natural plant compound. Gibberellins are required at several different times during plant development. 1. ga can rescue mutant plants that are dwarf in size. Thus, ga must be essential during plant growth. 3. some seeds need ga to germinate as ga stimulates the production of enzymes that digest the stored starch in the seed to provide nutrients for young seedling to grow.
