Plant-stress and Size

May 4, 2010 By arne hendriks 1

As with animals, Plants can be dwarfed through genetic engineering and selective breeding, but environmental stresses  such as soil quality, light, drought, flood, cold, infection, and herbivory, can also lead to a dwarfed stature . However the majority of dwarfing in plants does not directly occur from environmental damage but from stress hormones produced in response.  The class of plant hormone responsible for dwarfing due to injury are called jasmonates. Such responses include less frequent cell divisions and reduction of cell elongation.