The law of bamboo growth rate (explaining the growth cycle of bamboo)

Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants in the world. For example, when the growth rate of Phyllostachys pubescens is the fastest, it can reach114.5cm every day.

Recently, Wei Qiang, a professor at the Bamboo Research Institute of Nanjing Forestry University, and several research teams such as Cornell University and International Bamboo and Rattan Center published a research paper in Plant Cells.

After nearly 8 years of continuous research, they have made clear the cytological basis of the rapid growth of Phyllostachys pubescens and its potential physiological and molecular regulation mechanism, revealed the synergistic mechanism of environmental factors-genes-bamboo internode growth, solved the mystery of the rapid growth of Phyllostachys pubescens and innovated the bamboo growth theory.

Photo courtesy of Phyllostachys pubescens in Fenzhou.

Based on the analysis of the internode length of 5 10 bamboo stalks and 12750 in 17 main producing areas of Phyllostachys pubescens in China, combined with the dynamic analysis of high growth, it was found that the internode of Phyllostachys pubescens stalks from bottom to top 18 was the representative internode of high growth.

During the rapid growth of Phyllostachys pubescens, as many as 40 internodes are elongated to varying degrees at the same time.

In addition, the internode growth of Phyllostachys pubescens is modular growth, and its growth internode includes cell division region (up to 2 cm), cell elongation region (up to 12 cm) and secondary cell wall thickening region.

These growing areas can extend by 1 1.8 cm every day, producing about 570 million cells, and depositing a lot of lignin and cellulose at the same time, far exceeding the vegetative growth rate of other plants.

Researchers believe that gibberellin may be the main hormone that directly induces the rapid growth of Phyllostachys pubescens; The decrease of cytokinin and the accumulation of auxin are the potential physiological factors that induce the cells in the cell division area to stop dividing and start to elongate and grow. Abscisic acid and mechanical pressure can stimulate the rapid thickening of secondary cell walls.

The difference of internode length of Phyllostachys pubescens population may be a trade-off mediated by mechanical pressure caused by rapid growth, or it may be the result of joint regulation of environmental temperature and genes related to cell division and elongation.