Dr. Jerry Cohen's laboratory is a part of the Department of Horticultural Science situated in Alderman Hall on the St. Paul campus of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities . Arabidopsis thaliana is a small flowering plant that is widely used by plant science researchers as a model organism to study many aspects of plant biology. It is a member of the Brassica family, which includes species such as cabbage and radish.
Auxins are a class of hormones that promote the lengthwise growth of plants.
They have a role in other cellular activities as well, such as cell division and differentiation, fruit development, root formation from cuttings, and in abscission. It is synthesized in meristems and young organs, transported through the plant by a dedicated transport system and ultimately produces a specific cellular response. Since the hormone functions in all higher plant species, a thorough understanding of auxin homeostasis and response will impact all aspects of agriculture. Qualities such as stature, shoot and root architecture, shoot strength, seed and fruit size, fruit ripening, and the senescence program are all regulated in part by auxin and may be targets for directed engineering. While relatively few IAA conjugates have been identified, IAA has been found to be conjugated to simple sugars, cyclitols, high molecular weight polysaccharides, or the carbohydrate component of glycoproteins via an ester or anhydride linkage.