The Ecological Role of Ethylene in Root Growth and Development
The root system architecture (RSA) is an important characteristic of the plant, which is formed as a result of processes such as elongation and branching of the roots. The ability to change the RSA depending on environmental factors underlies the survival of plants in adverse conditions. In this paper, the interaction of ethylene and auxin in the regulation of these growth processes has been studied. A comparison was made between the growth responses of the Arabidopsis plant of the parent ecotype Columbia and ethylene-insensitive etr1-1 mutants to the introduction of auxin indolyl-3-acetic acid (IAA) into the medium. It was shown that IAA stimulated branching of the roots of both lines, whereas inhibition of root growth in length was observed only in Columbia plants. An important role of plant sensitivity to ethylene in the regulation of root elongation by auxins was concluded.