How do plants grow towards light

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Getting Started in Science and Wildlife Filmmaking. Wood Cranesbill: The Dye of Warriors. The History of Earth Day. Science News. The answer is simple: auxin But maybe not that simple, since plant hormones -- and auxin is a plant hormone -- are regulated by complex combinations of various processes.

Auxin surrenders its secrets Darwin was already interested in auxin in the 19th century. A new means of transport for auxin? Growing crops more efficiently: the right amount of auxin in the right place Higher auxin levels at the right moment and in the right place result in better growth and greater yields. A novel putative auxin carrier family regulates intracellular auxin homeostasis in plants.

Nature , ; DOI: ScienceDaily, 16 April Why plants grow towards the light. Think about it this way. The plant cells that are on the "shady" side of the plant actually grow longer than the cells on the "sunny" side. These longer cells grow this way because of a chemical in them called an auxin. An auxin, is a plant growth hormone that helps regulate shoot growth. Under normal light conditions auxins are spread out in the plant.

This sets off a cascade of interactions between different proteins in the cells, which ultimately changes the alignment of cellular scaffolding proteins, called microtubules.

The upshot of this is that the cells on the darker side of the shoot elongate, while those on the light side remain squat and boxy.