Is Cell Elongation Regulated by Extracellular Auxin?

AbstractExperiments with isolated epidermal strips of maize coleoptiles, pretreated with auxin and further incubated on sucrose agar containing different concentrations of auxin (indole‐3‐acetic acid, IAA or naphthalene‐1‐acetic acid, NAA) and/or naphthylphthalamic acid (NPA), are described. Preincubation for 2h with 2 . 10−4M IAA or 10−5M NAA in buffer, followed by 30 min wash in buffer results in measurable cell elongation during a subsequent incubation for 6 h on sucrose agar. Addition of 10−4M NPA inhibited the response to auxin and this inhibition could be reversed by providing IAA in addition to NPA. Inner tissue fragments (without outer epidermis) did not respond to external IAA. These results lead to the conclusion that auxin secretion at the outer epidermis may be an essential step in auxin‐regulated coleoptile growth.