Biologists+Unravel+How+Plants+Synthesize+Their+Growth+Hormone

**Along with his observations of evolution, Charles Darwin noticed that plants produced a substance that made them bend toward light, a hormone called auxin**. Since then, biologists have found this hormone essential in regulating plant growth and patterning their development. Yunde Zhao, an associate professor of biology at UC San Diego discovered a family of 11 genes involved in the synthesis of auxin in 2006. Recently, Zhao and his colleagues have unraveled the biochemical pathway leading the production of auxin.

 It has always been a mystery, the production of auxin. The specific gene had never been identified. “The main reason that auxin biosynthesis mechanisms had evaded scientists is that each step in auxin biosynthesis involves many genes, making the genetic dissection of auxin biosynthesis very complicated,” said Zhao. “Now that we’ve identified the main auxin pathway in plants, we will be able to regulate auxin levels in crops and other plants with temporal and spatial precision, providing useful tools for agricultural biotechnology.”

 Now, we are able to regulate plant stature, number shape, and even seed and fruit development. These new discoveries can carry across the whole fundamentals of plant development, for farmers and biologists alike.

 This article is relevant to AP Biology, because it shows the impact that a single gene can have on the whole existence of an organism. It brings to view the moral dilemma of being able play God and manipulate a species by playing with their genes. When is too far, too far? When we begin to isolate genes and mess with nature, do we know what we’re getting into? The significance of the article is great in the fact that we are not far from reaching that moral and ethical crossroads.

(Nicholas French, AP Biology Pd 4)

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