Tag: plant growth and development

Short day plants require the long duration of the dark period. If the dark period is interrupted with a brief exposure to red light (660 nm), the flowering will not take place. The inhibitory effect of red light on flowering during the critical dark period in short day plants can be overcome by a subsequent exposure to far-red rays. This is due to the fact that when exposed to far-red light, P$ _fr$ is converted to P$ _r$.

Differentiation is the process by which cells move from a less specialized (such as stem cells) form to a more specialized form having a specific function. Dedifferentiation is the process whereby completely differentiated cells regress to a simpler state (such as stem cells) and gain the capacity to divide again. The process by which a group of once specialized cells (de-differentiated) return to their original specialized state is known as redifferentiation. Regeneration is the process of renewal or restoration of growth to recreate damaged tissues, limbs etc. So, the correct answer is 'dedifferentiation'.

The cells derived from root apical and shoot apical meristems and cambium differentiate and mature to perform specific functions. This process leading to maturation of cells is termed as differentiation. During differentiation, cells undergo few to major structural changes both in their cell walls and protoplasm e.g., to form a tracheary element the cells would lose their protoplasm, they also develop strong, elastic, lignocellulosic secondary cell walls, to carry water to long distances even under extreme tension. So, the correct answer is 'All of the above'.

The living differentiated cells, that have lost the capacity to divide can regain the power of division under certain conditions, this phenomenon is termed as de-differentiation. E.g.,formation of meristerns-interfascicular cambium (Formed from medullary rays) and cork cambium (formed from outer layer of cortex) from fully differentiated parenchyma cells. While doing so, such meristems/tissues are able to divide and produce cells that once again lose the capacity to deride but mature to perform specific functions, i.e., get redifferentiated. E.g., cells of secondary xylem, secondary phloem, periderm. Thus rediffrentiation can be defined as maturation or differentiation of dedifferentiated tissues. So, the correct answer is 'Redifferentiation'.

The portion of pith taken as an explant comprises of parenchymatous cells (i.e., simple permanent tissue which have lost the capacity to divide). When such cells are cultured on solid culture media, the parenchymatous cells of pith become meristematic and start dividing resulting in a mass of undifferentiated cells called callus. This is an example of dedifferentiation. 

Interfascicular cambium is the cambium formed by dedifferentiation of cells forming the ground tissue (parenchyma) that lie in line to the vascular cambium, since these strips of cambium originate between two vascular bundles or connect two vascular cambia together they are referred to as the interfascicular cambia. They are responsible for producing medullary rays during secondary growth.

Redifferentiation is the formation of new or differentiated tissue from a already differentiated tissue. During this process cells of parenchymatous tissue undergo dedifferentiation to meristematic tissue. The cells cut off by the meristematic tissue based on the location and function get modified to respective tissues like secondary cortex, secondary xylem and secondary phloem in roots, monocot stem, cork cells etc