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Tropism
In biology, a tropism is a phenomenon indicating the growth or turning movement of an organism, usually a plant, in response to an environmental stimulus (physiology), stimulus. In tropisms, this response is dependent on the direction of the stimulus (as opposed to nastic movements, which are non-directional responses). Tropisms are usually named for the stimulus involved; for example, a phototropism is a movement to the light source, and an anemotropism is the response and adaptation of plants to the wind. Tropisms occur in three sequential steps. First, there is a sensation to a stimulus. Next, signal transduction occurs. And finally, the directional growth response occurs. Tropisms can be regarded by Ethology, ethologists as ''taxis'' (directional response) or ''kinesis (biology), kinesis'' (non-directional response). The Cholodny–Went model, proposed in 1927, is an early model describing tropism in emerging shoots of monocotyledons, including the tendencies for the st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gravitropism
Gravitropism (also known as geotropism) is a coordinated process of differential growth by a plant in response to gravity pulling on it. It also occurs in fungi. Gravity can be either "artificial gravity" or natural gravity. It is a general feature of all higher and many lower plants as well as other organisms. Charles Darwin was one of the first to scientifically document that roots show ''positive gravitropism'' and stems show ''negative gravitropism''. That is, roots grow in the direction of gravitational pull (i.e., downward) and stems grow in the opposite direction (i.e., upwards). This behavior can be easily demonstrated with any potted plant. When laid onto its side, the growing parts of the stem begin to display negative gravitropism, growing (biologists say, turning; see tropism) upwards. Herbaceous (non-woody) stems are capable of a degree of actual bending, but most of the redirected movement occurs as a consequence of root or stem growth outside. The mechanism is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phototropism
In biology, phototropism is the growth of an organism in response to a light stimulus. Phototropism is most often observed in plants, but can also occur in other organisms such as fungi. The cells on the plant that are farthest from the light contain a hormone called auxin that reacts when phototropism occurs. This causes the plant to have elongated cells on the furthest side from the light. Phototropism is one of the many plant tropisms, or movements, which respond to external stimuli. Growth towards a light source is called positive phototropism, while growth away from light is called negative phototropism. Negative phototropism is not to be confused with skototropism, which is defined as the growth towards darkness, whereas negative phototropism can refer to either the growth away from a light source or towards the darkness. Most plant shoots exhibit positive phototropism, and rearrange their chloroplasts in the leaves to maximize photosynthetic energy and promote growth.G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Host Tropism
Host tropism is the infection specificity of certain pathogens to particular hosts and host tissues. This explains why most pathogens are only capable of infecting a limited range of host organisms. Researchers can classify pathogenic organisms by the range of species and cell types that they exhibit host tropism for. For instance, pathogens that are able to infect a wide range of hosts and tissues are said to be amphotropic. Ecotropic pathogens, on the other hand, are only capable of infecting a narrow range of hosts and host tissue. Knowledge of a pathogen's host specificity allows professionals in the research and medical industries to model pathogenesis and develop vaccines, medication, and preventive measures to fight against infection. Methods such as cell engineering, direct engineering and assisted evolution of host-adapted pathogens, and genome-wide genetic screens are currently being used by researchers to better understand the host range of a variety of different pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chemotropism
Chemotropism is defined as the growth of organisms navigated by chemical stimulus from outside of the organism. It has been observed in bacteria, plants and fungi. A chemical gradient can influence the growth of the organism in a positive or negative way. Positive growth is characterized by growing towards a stimulus and negative growth is growing away from the stimulus. Chemotropism is slightly different from Chemotaxis, the major difference being that chemotropism is related to growth, while chemotaxis is related to locomotion. A chemotropic process may have an underlying chemotactic component, as is the case with mating yeast. Chemotropism in plants One prime example of chemotropism is seen in plant fertilization and pollen tube elongation of angiosperms, flowering plants. Unlike animals, plants cannot move, and therefore need a delivery mechanism for sexual reproduction. Pollen, which contains the male gametophyte is transferred to another plant via insects or wind. If the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cholodny–Went Model
In botany, the Cholodny–Went model, proposed in 1927, is an early model describing tropism in emerging shoots of monocotyledons, including the tendencies for the shoot to grow towards the light ( phototropism) and the roots to grow downward (gravitropism). In both cases the directional growth is considered to be due to asymmetrical distribution of auxin, a plant growth hormone. Although the model has been criticized and continues to be refined, it has largely stood the test of time. Basic model The model was independently proposed by the Russian-born scientist Nikolai Cholodny of the University of Kyiv, Ukraine, in 1927 and by Frits Warmolt Went of the California Institute of Technology in 1928, both based on work they had done in 1926. The basic elements of the theory are that auxin is the sole hormone that controls growth in gravitropism and phototropism; the rate of growth depends on the concentration of auxin; and both gravity and unidirectional light affect the movemen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Auxin
Auxins (plural of auxin ) are a class of plant hormones (or plant-growth regulators) with some morphogen-like characteristics. Auxins play a cardinal role in coordination of many growth and behavioral processes in plant life cycles and are essential for plant body development. The Dutch biologist Frits Warmolt Went first described auxins and their role in plant growth in the 1920s. Kenneth V. Thimann became the first to isolate one of these phytohormones and to determine its chemical structure as indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). Went and Thimann co-authored a book on plant hormones, ''Phytohormones'', in 1937. Overview Auxins were the first of the major plant hormones to be discovered. They derive their name from the Greek word ( – 'to grow/increase'). Auxin is present in all parts of a plant, although in very different concentrations. The concentration in each position is crucial developmental information, so it is subject to tight regulation through both metabolism and transp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aerotropism
Aerotropism or oxytropism is the growth of an organism either toward or away from a source of air/oxygen. Evidence of this behavior has been recorded in plants, bacteria, and fungi. History In 1882 Engelmann demonstrated oxygen-sensing orientation in oxytactic microorganisms relative to an oxygen gradient. The orientation of plant roots toward air was reported by Molisch in 1884 and in 1906 Pfeffer proposed that oxygen was the chemical cue that caused the plant root to change direction, as opposed to other gases that are present in air. Aerotropism versus oxytropism In a 1908 Botanical Gazette article, the author mentions an article by W. Polowzow where it is proposed that the term aerotropism be concerned with the sensitivities of organisms to air and that the term aeroidotropism be related to organism sensitivities to pure gases. The author posits that there is no need for the differentiation. Several scientists in papers cited for this article use the term “oxytropism� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tissue Tropism
Tissue tropism is the range of cells and tissues of a host that support growth of a particular pathogen, such as a virus, bacterium or parasite. Some bacteria and viruses have a broad tissue tropism and can infect many types of cells and tissues. Other viruses may infect primarily a single tissue. For example, rabies virus affects primarily neuronal tissue. Similarly, JC virus (JCV) primarily affects and resides in kidneys. Influencing factors Factors influencing viral tissue tropism include: * The presence of cellular receptors permitting viral entry. * Availability of transcription factors involved in viral replication. * The molecular nature of the viral tropogen or virus surface, such as the glycoprotein, which interacts with the corresponding cell receptor. The cellular receptors are the proteins found on a cell or viral surface. These receptors are like keys, allowing the viral cell to fuse with or attach itself to a cell. The way that these proteins are acquired is thr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monocotyledon
Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, ( Lilianae '' sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are flowering plants whose seeds contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. A monocot taxon has been in use for several decades, but with various ranks and under several different names. The APG IV system recognises its monophyly but does not assign it to a taxonomic rank, and instead uses the term "monocots" to refer to the group. Monocotyledons are contrasted with the dicotyledons, which have two cotyledons. Unlike the monocots however, the dicots are not monophyletic and the two cotyledons are instead the ancestral characteristic of all flowering plants. Botanists now classify dicots into the eudicots ("true dicots") and several basal lineages from which the monocots emerged. The monocots are extremely important economically, culturally, and ecologically, and make up a majority of plant biomass used in agriculture. Common crops such as dates, onions, garlic, rice, wheat, maize, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hormone
A hormone (from the Ancient Greek, Greek participle , "setting in motion") is a class of cell signaling, signaling molecules in multicellular organisms that are sent to distant organs or tissues by complex biological processes to regulate physiology and behavior. Hormones are required for the normal development of animals, plants and fungi. Due to the broad definition of a hormone (as a signaling molecule that exerts its effects far from its site of production), numerous kinds of molecules can be classified as hormones. Among the substances that can be considered hormones, are eicosanoids (e.g. prostaglandins and thromboxanes), steroids (e.g. Estrogen, oestrogen and brassinosteroid), amino acid derivatives (e.g. epinephrine and auxin), protein or peptides (e.g. insulin and CLE peptides), and gases (e.g. ethylene and nitric oxide). Hormones are used to communicate between organ (anatomy), organs and Tissue (biology), tissues. In vertebrates, hormones are responsible for regulating ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nastic Movements
In biology, nastic movements are non-directional responses to stimuli (e.g. temperature, humidity, light irradiance) that occur more rapidly than tropisms and are usually associated with plants. The movement can be due to changes in turgor (internal pressure within plant cells). Decrease in turgor pressure causes shrinkage, while increase in turgor pressure brings about swelling. Nastic movements differ from tropic movements in that the direction of tropic responses depends on the direction of the stimulus, whereas the direction of nastic movements is independent of the stimulus's position. The tropic movement is growth movement but nastic movement may or may not be growth movement. The rate or frequency of these responses increases as intensity of the stimulus increases. An example of such a response is the opening and closing of flowers (photonastic response), movement of euglena, chlamydomonas towards the source of light . They are named with the suffix "-nasty" and have pre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adaptation
In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the population during that process. Thirdly, it is a phenotypic trait or adaptive trait, with a functional role in each individual organism, that is maintained and has evolved through natural selection. Historically, adaptation has been described from the time of the ancient Greek philosophers such as Empedocles and Aristotle. In 18th and 19th-century natural theology, adaptation was taken as evidence for the existence of a deity. Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace proposed instead that it was explained by natural selection. Adaptation is related to biological fitness, which governs the rate of evolution as measured by changes in allele frequencies. Often, two or more species co-adapt and co-evolve as they develop adaptations tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
