Plant hormones, also known as phytohormones, act similarly to hormones found in animals. They can be peptides, steroids, or other small molecules that in some way affect responses in a plant. There are many factors hormones influence including growth, germination and cell fate, to name a few. After studying hormones and their pathways, we now know-how hormones originate and what their eventual outcomes can be. A hormone is initially synthesized, using a tightly regulated system, at a specific spot in the plant. The synthesis tends to occur near the areas of use. After synthesis a plant may conjugate the hormone to inactivate and store it for later use instead of having it degraded and needing to produce another later. Once created the hormone needs to be transported to where it will be used. The plant uses both transport through the phloem and xylem, as well as transport proteins between cells. This way the hormone can travel larger distances and cover local patches. Once at the targeted site, a receptor specifically designed for the molecule will bind and activate. The activation causes a signaling chain that eventually reaches an effector which responds to this stimulus. A response could be genomic and induce transcription to produce a change or an activation/ inactivation of pre-existing proteins.
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