XVI International Botanical Congess

We discovered that ethylene not only alters the polarity of cell expansion but also increases the propensity of cells to divide and changes the polarity of cell division axes, resulting in extra organogenesis and/or histogenesis in developing seedlings of C. sativus and A. thaliana. In C. sativus, ethylene induced unusual branch-like structures from the hypocotyl. These novel organs consistently terminated with a pair of guard cells and developed trichomes. Closer examination revealed that ethylene had similar effects on several other cell types in C. sativus as well as in A. thaliana. We intend to explore the nature of ethylene's role in stimulating cell division, in altering cell polarity and the involvement of the cytoskeleton in these responses.