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Etiolation is a process in
flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...
s grown in partial or complete absence of light. It is characterized by long, weak stems; smaller leaves due to longer internodes; and a pale yellow color (
chlorosis In botany, chlorosis is a condition in which leaves produce insufficient chlorophyll. As chlorophyll is responsible for the green color of leaves, chlorotic leaves are pale, yellow, or yellow-white. The affected plant has little or no ability to ...
). The development of seedlings in the dark is known as "skotomorphogenesis" and leads to etiolated seedlings.


Effects

Etiolation increases the likelihood that a plant will reach a light source, often from under the soil,
leaf litter Plant litter (also leaf litter, tree litter, soil litter, litterfall, or duff) is dead plant material (such as leaves, bark, needles, twigs, and cladodes) that has fallen to the ground. This detritus or dead organic material and its constituen ...
, or shade from competing plants. The growing tips are strongly attracted to light and will elongate towards it. The pale color results from a lack of
chlorophyll Chlorophyll is any of several related green pigments found in cyanobacteria and in the chloroplasts of algae and plants. Its name is derived from the Greek words (, "pale green") and (, "leaf"). Chlorophyll allows plants to absorb energy ...
. Some of the changes that occur include # elongation of stems and leaves; # weakening of cell walls in stems and leaves; # longer internodes, hence fewer leaves per unit length of stem; # chlorosis, a pale yellowish-white coloration. De-etiolation is the transition of seedlings from below-ground growth to above-ground growth form.


Causes

Etiolation is controlled by the plant hormones called
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 essent ...
s, which are produced by the growing tip to maintain
apical dominance In botany, apical dominance is the phenomenon whereby the main, central stem of the plant is dominant over (i.e., grows more strongly than) other side stems; on a branch the main stem of the branch is further dominant over its own side twigs. P ...
. Auxin diffuses, and is transported, downwards from the tip, with effects including suppressing growth of lateral buds. Auxins are active in light; when they are active they stimulate proton pumps in the cell wall which increases the acidity of the cell wall and activates expansin (an enzyme that breaks bonds in the cell wall structure) that weaken the cell wall and allow the cell to expand.
Chloroplast A chloroplast () is a type of membrane-bound organelle, organelle known as a plastid that conducts photosynthesis mostly in plant cell, plant and algae, algal cells. Chloroplasts have a high concentration of chlorophyll pigments which captur ...
s that have not been exposed to light are called etioplasts (see also
plastid A plastid is a membrane-bound organelle found in the Cell (biology), cells of plants, algae, and some other eukaryotic organisms. Plastids are considered to be intracellular endosymbiotic cyanobacteria. Examples of plastids include chloroplasts ...
s).


De-etiolation

De-etiolation is a series of physiological and biochemical changes a plant shoot undergoes when emerging from the ground or in response to light after a period of insufficient light exposure. This process is known informally as greening. These changes that are triggered in the plant's shoots or already formed leaves and stems occur in preparation for
photosynthesis Photosynthesis ( ) is a system of biological processes by which photosynthetic organisms, such as most plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, convert light energy, typically from sunlight, into the chemical energy necessary to fuel their metabo ...
. Some of the changes that occur include #Inhibition of
hypocotyl The hypocotyl (short for "hypocotyledonous stem", meaning "below seed leaf") is the stem of a germinating seedling, found below the cotyledons (seed leaves) and above the radicle (root). Eudicots As the plant embryo grows at germination, it send ...
lengthening. #Stimulation of
cotyledon A cotyledon ( ; ; "a cavity, small cup, any cup-shaped hollow", gen. (), ) is a "seed leaf" – a significant part of the embryo within the seed of a plant – and is formally defined as "the embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants, one or mor ...
expansion. #Opening of the apical hook, see Seedling's photomorphogenesis and etiolation for details. #Stimulation of synthesis of
anthocyanins Anthocyanins (), also called anthocyans, are water-soluble vacuolar pigments that, depending on their pH, may appear red, purple, blue, or black. In 1835, the German pharmacist Ludwig Clamor Marquart named a chemical compound that gives flow ...
. #Stimulation of
chloroplast A chloroplast () is a type of membrane-bound organelle, organelle known as a plastid that conducts photosynthesis mostly in plant cell, plant and algae, algal cells. Chloroplasts have a high concentration of chlorophyll pigments which captur ...
s development from etioplasts. This process is regulated by the exposure of various photoreceptor pigments to light.
Phytochrome Phytochromes are a class of photoreceptor proteins found in plants, bacteria and fungi. They respond to light in the red and far-red regions of the visible spectrum and can be classed as either Type I, which are activated by far-red light, or ...
A and phytochrome B both respond to an increasing proportion of red light to far-red light which occurs when the shoot comes out into the open. Cryptochrome 1 responds to increasing amounts of blue light when the shoot reaches the surface.


See also

* Blanching – a technique for growing vegetables that induces etiolation to produce more delicate vegetables


References


External links


Etiolation - video footage and narration
{{Authority control Plant physiology