Plant Growth and Differentiation - Concerto for Hormones, Environment and Genes -

식물의 생장과 분화 - 유전자. 홀몬. 환경의 조화 -

Plants are inherited spatial and temporal coordination systems in their growth and differentiation processes which are precisely governed by the two interlocked control systems; autogenous and environmental. Looking into the overall course of plant development from molecular to organismal level, it can be comparable to a concerto for plant hormones, environmental stimuli and plant genomic orchestra conducted by an unidentified virtuoso. Some of the recent significant attempts to puzzle out the mystery of the life processes of plant development are briefly reviewed. The revolutionary advances in understanding the mystic processes are contemporarily achieved by the application of various molecular techniques. The characterization of plant genomes is now attained through recombinant DNA approaches, and the sensitive detection of specific gene products during the plant development is perimitted by the immunochemical procedures. However, along with the recognition of underlying molecular events such as developmental changes in gene expression and hormone-receptor interrelation associated with tissue sensitivity to hormones, more emphasis should be placed upon the physiological approaches of organismal level for the understanding the correlative systems of the developmental processes of plants as intact eukaryotic organisms.