Biology of Adventitious Root Formation, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1994 Basic Life Sciences Series, Vol. 62

Charles E. Hess Department of Environmental Horticulture University of California Davis, CA 95616 Research in the biology of adventitious root formation has a special place in science. It provides an excellent forum in which to pursue fundamental research on the regulation of plant growth and development. At the same time the results of the research have been quickly applied by commercial plant propagators, agronomists, foresters and horticulturists (see the chapter by Kovar and Kuchenbuch, by Ritchie, and by Davies and coworkers in this volume). In an era when there is great interest in speeding technology transfer, the experiences gained in research in adventitious root formation may provide useful examples for other areas of science. Interaction between the fundamental and the applied have been and continue to be facilitated by the establishment, in 1951, of the Plant Propagators' Society, which has evolved into the International Plant Propagators' Society, with active programs in six regions around the world. It is a unique organization which brings together researchers in universities, botanical gardens and arboreta, and commercial plant propagators. In this synergistic environment new knowledge is rapidly transferred and new ideas for fundamental research evolve from the presentations and discussions by experienced plant propagators. In the past 50 years, based on research related to the biology of adventitious root formation, advances in plant propagation have been made on two major fronts.

Special Lecture.- The Origin, Diversity, and Biology of Shoot-Borne Roots.- The Commercial Importance of Adventitious Rooting.- Commercial Importance of Adventitious Rooting to Agronomy.- Commercial Application of Adventitious Rooting to Forestry.- Commercial Importance of Adventitious Rooting to Horticulture.- Infrastructure for Research.- Genomic Manipulation of Plant Materials for Adventitious Rooting Research.- Model Systems for Studying Adventitious Root Formation.- Setting the Stage for Rooting.- Novel Experimental Systems for Determining Cellular Competence, and Determination.- Differential Competence for Adventitious Root Formation in Histologically Similar Cell Types.- Biochemical and Molecular Markers of Cellular Competence for Adventitious Rooting.- Manipulating Rooting Potential in Stockplants before Collecting Cuttings.- Induction of Rooting.- Auxin Metabolism and Adventitious Root Initiation.- The ERabp Gene Family: Structural and Physiological Analyses.- Root System Development and Plant Growth.- Use of Transformed Roots for Root Development and Metabolism Studies and Progress in Characterizing Root-Specific Gene Expression.- Control of Root System Architecture through Chemical and Genetic Alterations of Polyamine Metabolism.- Modeling Root System Morphology in Rice.- Modeling Adventitious Root System Development in Trees: Clonal Poplars.- The Role of Expert and Hypertext Systems in Modeling Root-Shoot Interactions, and Carbon Allocation.- Carbon Allocation to Root and Shoot Systems of Woody Plants.- Special Chapter.- A Historical Evaluation of Adventitious Rooting Research to 1993.- Epilogue.- Research on Adventitious Rooting: Where Do We Go from Here?.