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First teaching 2023

First exams 2025

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Regulating Plant Growth & Fruit Ripening (HL) (HL IB Biology)

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Cara Head

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Cara Head

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Regulating Root & Shoot Growth

  • Two plant hormones, auxin and cytokinin, interact together to ensure integration of root and shoot growth
    • Auxin is responsible for cell elongation and is produced in the shoots
    • Cytokinin is responsible for cell division and is produced in the roots
  • Both hormones must be transported to the areas of the plant where they are not produced
    • Cytokinin is transported in the xylem tissue as direction is always from root to shoot
    • Auxin is transported in the phloem sap from shoot to root
  • At certain concentrations the two hormones work together to ensure root and shoot growth is regulated; their activities can termed ‘complementary' due to the integration of their signaling
    • At low concentrations auxin limits the action of cytokinin
    • An increase in cytokinin level counteracts this inhibitory effect and leads to an inhibition of auxin signaling
    • At higher concentrations of both hormones, these interactions between cytokinin and auxin are prevented

Positive Feedback in Fruit Ripening

  • The production of ethylene in fruits is an example of a positive feedback loop
    • In positive feedback loops the original stimulus produces a response that causes the factor to deviate even more from the normal range
    • They enhance the effect of the original stimulus
  • Ethylene (named ethene by International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, IUPAC) is a gas produced by fruit during the later stages of fruit ripening
  • The gas can diffuse from one fruit to adjacent fruit which triggers further release of ethylene
  • The effect is that all fruit ripens at the same time

Ethylene Positive Feedback Loop Diagram

positive-feedback-in-fruit-ripening-and-ethylene-production

The production of ethylene is an example of a positive feedback loop

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Cara Head

Author: Cara Head

Expertise: Biology

Cara graduated from the University of Exeter in 2005 with a degree in Biological Sciences. She has fifteen years of experience teaching the Sciences at KS3 to KS5, and Psychology at A-Level. Cara has taught in a range of secondary schools across the South West of England before joining the team at SME. Cara is passionate about Biology and creating resources that bring the subject alive and deepen students' understanding