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Role of Turgor in Plant Cell Growth

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Abstract

BURSTÖM1 recently criticized the generally held view that plant cell enlargement involves physical yielding of the cell wall driven by turgor forces, saying, “turgor does not cause expansion and is not the driving force … The driving force of any expansion is a difference in water potentials (because) expansion is due to water uptake … The literature on plant cell growth would certainly improve if the notion of turgor expanding the cell was abandoned and replaced by accepted equations for water balance of fluxes”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 94305

    PETER M. RAY & PAUL B. GREEN

  2. Department of Botany, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195

    ROBERT CLELAND

Authors
  1. PETER M. RAY
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  2. PAUL B. GREEN
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  3. ROBERT CLELAND
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RAY, P., GREEN, P. & CLELAND, R. Role of Turgor in Plant Cell Growth. Nature 239, 163–164 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1038/239163a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/239163a0

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