Abstract
Most people are familiar with the sight of a young seedling bending towards a window or the brightest source of light to which it is exposed (Fig. 1). This directional growth response, induced by unequal irradiation with wavelengths detected by the blue light (B) photoreceptor, is known as phototropism* and has fascinated plant physiologists for more than 150 years.
The term phototropism is also used to describe the growth of the single cells of lower plants towards light (such as the sporangiophore of the fungus Phycomyces or the protomena of the moss Funaria or Physcomitrella .) However, there are good reasons to believe that the phototropism of these optically simple cells differs physiologically from that of higher plants. Such responses will not be considered further in this chapter. Higher plants grown under certain conditions can also respond to a gradient of the far-red absorbing form of phytochrome (Pfr) across them and a phototropic response is generated of Pfr-induced growth inhibition. There are no good reasons to assume that such a phototropic response is physiologically similar to B-induced phototropic response hence such phytochrome-induced responses will not be discussed in this chapter.
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Further reading
Curry G.M. (1969) Phototropism. In: Physiology of Plant Growth and Development, pp. 245–273, Wilkins M.B. (ed.) McGraw-Hill, London.
Dennison D.S. (1979) Phototropism. In: Encyclopedia of Plant Physiology, New Series, 7, Physiology of Movements, pp. 506–566, Haupt W. and Feinleib M. E. (eds.) Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Firn R.D. and Digby J. (1980) The establishment of tropic curvatures in plants. Annu. Rev. Plant Physiol. 31:131–148.
Hart J.W. (1990) Plant Tropism, pp. 1–208, Unwin Hyman, London.
Lino M. (1990) Phototropism: mechanisms and ecological implications. Plant Cell Environ. 13: 633–650.
Jost L. (1907) Lectures in Plant Physiology, Transi. R.J.H. Gibson, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Pohl U. and Russo V.E.A. (1984) Phototropism. In Membranes and Sensory Transduction, pp. 231–329, Colombetti G. and Lend F. (eds.) Plenum Press, New York.
Went F. W. and Thimann K.V. (1937) Phytohormones, Macmillan, New York.
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© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Firn, R.D. (1994). Phototropism. In: Kendrick, R.E., Kronenberg, G.H.M. (eds) Photomorphogenesis in Plants. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1884-2_23
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1884-2_23
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