THE ELECTRICAL CONTROL OF GROWTH IN PLANT-TISSUE CULTURES - THE POLAR TRANSPORT OF AUXIN
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Goldsworthy, A. and Rathore, K. S. 1985. The electrical control of growth in plant tissue cultures: The polar transport of auxin.-J. exp. Bot. 36: 1134-1141.The reasons for a many-fold stimulation of shoot formation and a 60-70% stimulation of growth in tobacco callus caused by passing a very weak electric current (1 or 2 A) between the callus and the culture medium have been investigated. The stimulation of callus growth occurred only when the callus was made negative to the medium and then only when IAA was added. It was abolished, even in the presence of IAA, by the addition of TIBA which is an inhibitor of polar auxin transport, and also when the IAA was substituted by either IAN or the synthetic auxin 2,4-D, neither of which show significant polar transport. This suggests that the electrical treatment may have aligned the physiological polarities of the callus cells so as to promote the polar transport of IAA into the tissue when the callus was negative to the medium. If so, the enhanced shoot formation may have been due to the parallel orientation of the growth axes of individual cells so as to make the production of organforming meristems more likely. The mechanism of the effect and its relationship to the natural forces controlling differentiation is discussed. 1985 Oxford University Press.
