Analyses of Hormone Systems

One of the most unnecessary failings in hormone analysis has been a paucity of effort to correlate endogenous hormone levels with quantitative measures of development to establish a relationship or lack of one. Thus, an important aspect in the analysis of hormonal control carries some interpretative difficulties, yet the two approaches outlined plus bits and pieces of other types of evidence described below have given enough data to understand at least parts of some hormonal control systems. 

The ability of transfer cells to move solutes in and out of the vascular system and their positioning at strategic locations (Gunning et al. 1968, Pate and Gunning 1972, Gunning and Pate 1974) suggests that transfer cells may play a role in controlling the flux and distribution of plant hormones via the xylem and phloem. 

An equally challenging problem will be the identification of the function of the hormone/receptor complex. 

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