The transport of auxins

Abstract

Auxins play a crucial role in the regulation of spatial and temporal aspects of plant growth and development1. As well as being required for the division, enlargement and differentiation of individual plant cells, auxins also function as signals between cells, tissues and organs. In this way they contribute to the coordination and integration of growth and development in the whole plant and to physiological responses of plants to environmental cues (63). At the individual cell level, fast changes or pulses in hormone concentration may function to initiate or to terminate a developmental process. In contrast, the maintenance of a stable concentration of the hormone (homeostasis) may be necessary to maintain the progress of a developmental event that has already been initiated.