The Role of Sugar Demand in Apical Dominance: Branching in a New Direction

几个世纪以来，世界各地的人们一直利用这样一种知识，即修剪枝条生长的尖端会使下面的茎上的芽长出枝条。农作物、园艺和林业的产量取决于竹笋结构。自从20世纪30年代生长素被发现以来，枝条的分枝一直被认为是由植物激素调节的。然而，在这个项目中，我们提出了一个新的理论，即顶端对糖的需求占主导地位；增强的蔗糖是一种可移动的糖，对于芽的初始生长是必要的和充分的。这个项目旨在扩展这一理论，揭示参与蔗糖活动的潜在成分，并描述糖需求和激素网络如何作用于控制新梢结构。

For centuries, people around the world have made use of the knowledge that pruning the growing tips of shoots causes buds on the stem below to grow out into branches. Yields in crop, horticulture and forestry industries depend on shoot architecture. Since the discovery of auxin in the 1930s, shoot branching has been thought to be regulated by plant hormones. However, in this project we propose a new theory whereby shoot tip demand for sugar is predominant in apical dominance; enhanced sucrose, a mobile sugar, is necessary and sufficient for the initial growth of buds. This project aims to expand this theory, revealing underlying components involved in sucrose action and describe how the network of sugar demand and hormones acts to control shoot architecture.