A lateral shoot, commonly known as a
branch, is a part of a plant's
shoot system that develops from
axillary buds on the stem's surface, extending laterally from the
plant's stem.
Importance to photosynthesis
As a plant grows it requires more energy, it also is required to out-compete nearby plants for this energy. One of the ways a plant can compete for this energy is to increase its height, another is to increase its overall surface area. That is to say, the more lateral shoots a plant develops, the more foliage the plant can support increases how much
photosynthesis the plant can perform as it allows for more area for the plant to uptake
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...
as well as sunlight.
Genes, transcription factors, and growth
Through testing with
Arabidopsis thaliana (A plant considered a
model organism for plant genetic studies) genes including MAX1 and MAX2 have been found to affect growth of lateral shoots.
Gene knockouts of these genes cause abnormal proliferation of the plants affected, implying they are used for repressing said growth in
wild type plants. Another set of experiments with Arabidopsis thaliana testing genes in the
plant hormone
Plant hormones (or phytohormones) are signal molecules, produced within plants, that occur in extremely low concentrations. Plant hormones control all aspects of plant growth and development, including embryogenesis, the regulation of Organ (anat ...
florigen, two genes FT and TSF (which are abbreviations for Flowering Locus T, and Twin Sister of FT) when knocked out, appear to affect lateral shoot in a negative fashion. These
mutants cause slower growth and improper formation of lateral shoots, which could also mean that lateral shoots are important to florigen's function. Along with general growth there are also
transcription factor
In molecular biology, a transcription factor (TF) (or sequence-specific DNA-binding factor) is a protein that controls the rate of transcription (genetics), transcription of genetics, genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA, by binding t ...
s that directly effect the production of additional lateral shoots like the TCP family (also known as Teosinte branched 1/cycloidea/proliferating cell factor) which are plant specific proteins that suppress lateral shoot branching. Additionally the TCP family has been found to be partially responsible for inhibiting the cell's
Growth hormone–releasing hormone (GHRF) which means it also inhibits cell proliferation.
See also
*
Apical dominance
*
Shoot apical meristem
*
Auxin, another plant growth hormone
*
Cell growth
Cell most often refers to:
* Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life
* Cellphone, a phone connected to a cellular network
* Clandestine cell, a penetration-resistant form of a secret or outlawed organization
* Electrochemical cell, a de ...
References
Plant morphology
Auxin action
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