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How Plants Respond to Their Environment. How is the dodder able to perceive the tomato plant?. A bit about dodder… Parasitic plant One of USDA’s Top Ten Weeds Little photosynthetic capability Seedling will only survive for a few days without host.
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How is the dodder able to perceive the tomato plant? • A bit about dodder… • Parasitic plant • One of USDA’s Top Ten Weeds • Little photosynthetic capability • Seedling will only survive for a few days without host What are possible explanations for what you observed?
In this case a plant is responding to volatiles in its environment. • What are volatiles?
At the cellular level, how is dodder able to respond to volatiles?
Discussion • You are in the lab studying this phenomenon. What would you do next? Discuss the questions below in your group. • Hypothesize what is happening in the surface cell of the dodder plant. How could a plant detect the tomato “scent”? • What needs to happen for the plant to move toward the tomato at the cellular level? • What cell organelles and molecules might be involved? • Model your hypothesis through the structures of the cell from the initial detection of the tomato to the dodder movement. • Is this process happening in just one cell?
Examples of plant receptors Photoreceptors Hormone receptors Surface receptors for pathogens
Examples of signaling MAP Kinase cascade Ca2+ Reactive Oxygen Ion fluxes
Transcription Activation Repression Translation What are the results of signaling? ...Simply put, the information is copied from one molecule of DNA to a molecule of RNA. Why do we need so many signals and signal cascades?
Responses • What types of responses would be needed to make the dodder move?