Mendel-200: Pea as a model system to analyze hormone-mediated stem elongation

ABSTRACT

In a recent Review Article on Gregor Mendel’s (1822–1884) work with pea (Pisum sativum)-plants, it was proposed that this crop species should be re-vitalized as a model organism for the study of cell- and organ growth. Here, we describe the effect of exogenous gibberellic acid (GA₃) on the growth of the second internode in 4-day-old light-grown pea seedlings (Pisum sativum, large var. “Senator”). lnjection of glucose into the internode caused a growth-promoting effect similar to that of the hormone GA₃. Imbibition of dry pea seeds in GA₃, or water as control, resulted in a drastic enhancement in organ development in this tall variety. Similar results were reported for dwarf peas. These “classical” experimental protocols are suitable to study the elusive effect of gibberellins (which act in coordination with auxin) on the regulation of plant development at the biochemical and molecular levels.

KEYWORDS:

• Cell elongation
• garden pea
• gibberellin action
• Pisum sativum
• sucrose metabolism

Acknowledgments

This work is dedicated to the memory of Stanford-Professor and former Carnegie-Director Winslow R. Briggs (1928–2019), who used pea plants to analyze the effect of blue light on root nodule formation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

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Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.