Vegetative Plant Development

Chapter 37

Embryo Development
Begins once the egg cell is fertilized
-The growing pollen tube
enters angiosperm embryo
sac and releases two sperm cells
-One sperm fertilizes central
cell and initiates endosperm
development (nutrients for embryo)
-Other sperm fertilizes
the egg to produce
a zygote
-Cell division soon
follows, creating
the embryo

Embryo
Development
The first zygote division is asymmetrical, resulting in two unequal
daughter cells
-Small cell divides repeatedly forming a ball of cells, which will
form the embryo
-Large cell divides repeatedly forming an elongated structure
called a suspensor
-Transports nutrients to embryo
The root-shoot axis also forms at this time
-Roots near suspensor cells and shoots at other end.

How do plants divide

assymetrically in the first place?
Sperm entry point, light, gravity
Main body = thallus
Algae anchor = Rhizoid

This is all information gathered from brown algae!!

Development of Body Plan

In plants, three-dimensional shape and form arise by regulating cell

divisions
-The vertical axis (root-shoot axis) becomes established at a very
early stage
-Cells soon begin dividing in different directions producing
a solid ball of cells
-Apical meristems establish the root-shoot axis in the globular
stage
Rootshoot axis
Radial axis
Cell wall forming parallel
to embryo surface
Embryo

Suspensor

Development of Body Plan

The radial axis (inner-outer axis) is created when cells
alternate between synchronous cell divisions
-Produce cell walls parallel to and perpendicular to the
embryos surface
The 3 basic tissue systems arise at this stage
-Dermal, ground and vascular tissue established
Cell wall
forming
perpendicular
to embryo
surface

Vascular tissue system

(procambium)
Ground tissue system
(ground meristem)

Shoot apical meristem

Rootshoot
axis

Dermal tissue system

(protoderm)

Multiple parallel
and perpendicular
divisions, accompanied
by apical growth divisions
lengthening the root
shoot axis
Root apical meristem

Some Genes Involved in RootShoot Formation

Both shoot and root meristems are apical
meristems, but are independently controlled
-Shootmeristemless
(STM) is necessary for
shoot formation, but
not root development

-STM encodes a
transcription factor
with homeobox region

stm mutant

STM wild type

Cotyledons not mature leaves

7
are shown

Some Genes Involved in RootShoot Formation

The HOBBIT gene is required for root meristem, but

not shoot meristem formation

Hobbit is a protein that inhibits another protein that

stops the gene expression of the genes that Auxin
causes to be made!!!!
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Auxin and Monopteros Promote

Root Development
One way that auxin induces
gene expression is
by activating the
MONOPTEROS
(MP) protein
-Auxin releases the
repressor from MP
-MP then activates the
transcription of a
root development gene

Two Internal Proteins Responsible for the

Development of a Structure Cause
Similar Phenotypes if their
corresponding genes are mutated

Abnormal cell
division create stub
rather than a root

Has a basal peg not a root

10

Developmental Changes During the Globular

Stage

Primary meristems differentiate while the plant embryo is still at the

globular stage...THERE ARE 3 PRIMARY MERISTEMS
-No cell movements are involved
The outer protoderm develops into dermal tissue that protects the
plant
The ground meristem develops into ground tissue that stores food
and water
The inner procambium develops into vascular tissue that transports
water & nutrients

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Morphogenesis
The heart-shaped globular stage gives rise to bulges called
cotyledons
-Two in eudicots and one in monocots
These bulges are produced by embryonic cells, and not by
the shoot apical meristem
-This process is called morphogenesis
-Results from changes in planes and rates of cell division

12

More Morphogenesis
Changes
-As development proceeds, the cells with multiple potentials are
restricted to the meristem regions
-Many meristems have been established by the time
embryogenesis ends and the seed becomes dormant

During embryogenesis, angiosperms (Flowering plants)

undergo three other critical events:
-Storage of food in the cotyledons or endosperm
-Differentiation of ovule tissue to form a seed coat
-Development of carpel wall into a fruit
13

Endosperm Information
Endosperm varies between plants
-In coconuts it is liquid
-In corn it is solid

-In peas and beans

it is used up during
embryogenesis
-Nutrients are
stored in thick,
fleshy cotyledons
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Seeds
-In many angiosperms,
development of the embryo
is arrested soon after
meristems and cotyledons
differentiate
-The integuments develop
into a relatively impermeable
seed coat
-Encloses the seed with its dormant
embryo and stored food

15

Seeds

Seeds are an important adaptation because:

1. They maintain dormancy under unfavorable
conditions
2. They protect the young plant when it is most
vulnerable
3. They provide food for the embryo until it can
produce its own food
4. They facilitate dispersal of the embryo
SEED FACTS
Once a seed coat forms, most of the embryos metabolic activities
cease
Germination cannot take place until water and oxygen reach the
embryo
Seeds of some plants have been known to remain viable for
thousands of years
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Styles of Seed Germination

Specific adaptations ensure that seeds will
germinate only under appropriate conditions
-Some seeds lie within tough cones that do
not open until exposed to fire

17

Styles of Seed Germination

-Some seeds only germinate when
sufficient water is available to leach
inhibitory chemicals from the seed coat
-Still other seeds germinate only after they
pass through the intestines of birds or
mammals

18

Fruits = Pistils...During Seed Formation

Flower Develops into Fruit
Pistils = One or more Carpels
Carpels = Stigma, Style & Ovary
The ovary wall is
termed the pericarp
-Has three layers: exocarp,
mesocarp and endocarp
-One, some, or all of these layers
develop to recognized fruit
Fruits can be:
-Dry or fleshy
-Simple (single carpel),
-Aggregate (multiple carpels),
-Multiple (multiple flowers)

19

Fruits have seeds!! (in general)

In Fleshy Fruits Like
Tomatoes Pericarp
Is Thicker
In Dry Fruit (Like
Legumes) the
Pericarp Is Dry @
Maturity
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Copyright The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Aggregate Fruits
Derived from
many ovaries of
a single flower;
strawberries,
blackberries.
Unlike tomato,
these ovaries
are not fused
and covered by
a continuous
pericarp.

Sepals of a
single flower

Seed

Ovary

Multiple Fruits
Individual flowers
form fruits around
a single stem. The
fruits fuse as seen
with pineapple.

Pericarp of
individual flower
Main stem

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Fruits
Developmentally, fruits are fascinating organs
that contain 3 genotypes in one package:
-The fruit and seed coat are from the prior
sporophyte generation
-The developing seed contains remnants
of the gametophyte generation (????)
-The embryo represents the next
sporophyte generation
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Fruit Dispersal

-Ingestion and transportation by

birds or other vertebrates
-Hitching a ride with hooked
spines on birds and mammals
-Blowing in the wind
-Floating and drifting on water

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Germination
Germination is defined as the emergence of
the radicle (first root) from the seed coat
Germination begins when a seed absorbs
water & oxygen is available for metabolism
-Often requires an additional
environmental signal such as specific
wavelength of light

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Releasing Sugars From

Cotyledon...So the Embryo Can Grow

25

Releasing Sugars From

Cotyledon...So the Embryo Can Grow
Embryo produces gibberellic acid
-This hormone signals the aleurone (outer
endosperm layer) to produce -amylase
-Breaks down the endosperms starch
into sugars that are passed to embryo

26

Germination
New growth comes from delicate meristems
As the sporophyte pushes through the seed
coat, it orients with the environment such that the
root grows down & shoot grows up
-Usually, the root emerges before the shoot
-The shoot becomes photosynthetic, and the
postembryonic phase is under way
Cotyledons may be held above or below the ground
-May become photosynthetic or shrivel
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Germination

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