Application:ELISA
Reactivity: (predicted: Gibberellins)
Any of the members of a family of higher-plant hormones characterized by the ent-gibberellane skeleton. Some of these compounds have profound effects on many aspects of plant growth and development, which indicates an important regulatory role.
Probably the best-defined role for gibberellins in regulating the developmental processes in higher plants is stem growth. The cellular basis for gibberellin-induced stem growth can be either an increase in the length of pith cells in the stem or primarily the production of a greater number of cells. Applied gibberellins can often promote germination of dormant seeds, a capability suggesting that gibberellins are involved in the process of breaking dormancy. Gibberellins are intimately involved in other aspects of seed germination as well. Applied gibberellins promote or induce flowering in plants that require either cold or long days for flower induction. Gibberellin is probably not the flowering hormone or floral stimulus, because the floral stimulus appears to be identical or similar in all response types. The application of gibberellins often modifies sex expression, usually causing an increase in the number of male flowers. See also Dormancy; Flower; Plant growth; Seed.