Abstract
An answer to the question posed by the title of this article clearly depends on the definition adopted for both alternatives. Like the term ‘hormone’ the concept of a second messenger derives from endocrinology, being an intracellular signal whose formation is controlled by the interaction of a hormone with its receptor and which in turn is involved in the transduction mechanism of that hormone via interaction with another intracellular component. Since the precise applicability of the term hormone has itself been called into question in the case of the endogenous plant growth regulators (see e.g. Wareing, 1977) it would merely be an exercise in semantics to attempt to assess whether ethylene is best classified as such or given some other description. It is nevertheless understandable that, partly for historical reasons and partly because it is a gas, ethylene is seen to be different in kind to the other endogenous growth regulators and it is legitimate to raise the question as to whether that difference is real and fundamental or merely apparent, and if it is real whether some appellation needs to be coined to reflect that difference.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Adashi EY, Hsueh AJW (1984) Hormonal induction of receptors during ovarian granulosa cell differentiation. In: Conn PM (ed) The Receptors. Academic Press, London, pp 588–636
Aharoni N (1985) Effect of silver ions and ethylene on auxin metabolism and auxin-induced ethylene production in tobacco leaf discs. Physiol. Plant 63: 438–444
Beyer EM Jr, Morgan PW, Yang SF (1984) Ethylene. In: Wilkins M (ed) Advanced Plant Physiology. Pitman Press, London, pp 111–126
Bleecker AB, Robinson G, Kende H (1988) Studies on the regulation of 1-aminocyclopropane-l-carboxylate synthase in tomato using monoclonal antibodies. Planta 173: 385–390
Burg SP, Burg EA (1967) Auxin stimulated ethylene formation; its relationship to auxin inhibited growth, root geotropism and other plant processes. In: Wightman F, Setterfield G (eds) Biochemistry & Physiology of Plant Growth Substances. Runge Press, Canada, pp 1275–1294
Burg SP, Burg EA (1968) Ethylene formation in pea seedlings; its relation to the inhibition of bud growth caused by indole-3-acetic acid. Plant Physiol. 43: 1069–1074
Cohen E, Kende H (1987) In vivo 1-aminocyclopropane-l-carboxylate synthase activity in internodes of deepwater rice. Plant Physiol. 84:282–286
Drew MC, Jackson MB, Giffard S (1979) Ethylene-promoted adventitious rooting and development of cortical air spaces (aerenchyma) may be adaptive responses to flooding in Zea mays L. Planta 147: 83–88
Fujino DW, Nissen SJ, Jones AD, Burger DW, Bradford KJ (1988) Quantification of indole-3-acetic acid in dark-grown seedlings of the Diageotropica and Epinastic mutants of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.). Plant Physiol 88: 780–784
Goeschl JD, Rappaport L, Pratt HK (1966) Ethylene as a factor regulating the growth of pea epicotyls subjected to physiological stress. Plant Physiol. 41: 877–884
Kang BG, Ray PM (1969) Role of growth regulators in the bean hypocotyl hook opening response. Planta 87: 193–205
King AC, Cuatrecasas P (1981) Peptide hormone-induced receptor mobility, aggregation and internalization. N. Engl. J. Med. 305: 77–88
Metraux J-P, Kende H (1983) The cellular basis of the elongation response in submerged deep-water rice. Planta 160: 73–77
Musgrave A, Jackson MB, Ling E (1972) Callitriche stem elongation is controlled by ethylene and gibberellin. Nature New Biol. 238: 93–96
Nakagawa N, Nakajima N, Imaseki H (1988) Immunochemical differences of wound-induced 1-aminocyclopropane-l-carboxylic synthase from the auxin-induced enzyme. Plant Cell Physiol. 29: 1255–1259
Osborne DJ, McManus MT, Webb J (1984) Target cells for ethylene action. In: Roberts JA, Tucker GA (eds) Ethylene and Plant Development. Butterworths, London, pp 197–212
Osborne DJ (1987) Physiological considerations in developmental studies: Hormones and target cells. In: Hoad GV, Lenton JR, Jackson MB, Atkin RK (eds) Hormone Action in Plant Development. Butterworths, London, pp 265–274
Roberts JA, Grierson D, Tucker GA (1987) Genetic variants as aids to examine the significance of ethylene in development. In: Hoad GV, Lenton JR, Jackson MB, Atkin RK (eds) Hormone Action in Plant Development. Butterworths, London, pp 107–118
Sanders IO, Smith AR, Hall MA (1986) Ethylene metabolism and action. Physiol Plant 66: 723–726
Sanders IO, Smith AR, Hall MA (1989a) The measurement of ethylene binding and metabolism in plant tissue. Planta: in press
Sanders IO, Smith AR, Hall MA (1989b) Ethylene metabolism in Pisum sativum L. Planta: in press
Sisler EC, Pian A (1973) Effect of ethylene and cyclic olefins on tobacco leaves. Tobacco Sci 17: 68
Smith AR, Hall MA (1984) Mechanisms of ethylene action. Plant Growth Regul. 2: 151–165
Suttle JC (1988) Effect of ethylene treatment on polar IAA transport, net IAA uptake and specific binding of N-1Naphthyl phthalamic acid in tissues and microsomes isolated from etiolated pea epicotyls. Plant Physiol. 88: 795–799
Todaka I, Imaseki H (1985) Epidermal cells do not contribute to auxin-induced ethylene production in mung bean stem sections. Plant Cell Physiol. 26: 865–871
Venis MA (1985) Hormone Binding Sites in Plants. Longman, London
Wang H, Woodson WR (1989) Reversible inhibition of ethylene action and interruption of petal senescence in carnation flowers by norbornadiene. Plant Physiol. 89: 434–438
Wareing PF (1977) Growth substances and integration in the whole plant. In: Society for Experimental Botany Symposium No. 31: Integration of Activity in the Higher Plant, pp 337–365
Yoshii H, Imaseki H (1982) Regulation of auxin-induced ethylene biosynthesis. Repression of inductive formation of 1-aminocyclopropane-l-carboxylate synthase by ethylene. Plant Cell Physiol. 23: 639–649
Zobel RW (1973) Some physiological characteristics of the ethylene-requiring tomato mutant Diageotropica. Plant Physiol 52: 385–389
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1990 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Hall, M.A. et al. (1990). Ethylene, First or Second Messenger?. In: Ranjeva, R., Boudet, A.M. (eds) Signal Perception and Transduction in Higher Plants. NATO ASI Series, vol 47. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-83974-0_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-83974-0_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-83976-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-83974-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive