Meristem cells at the tip of a growing shoot differentiate into specialised cells as the shoot grows, forming stems and other differentiated plant tissues e.g. ground tissues.
Which of A - D best explains why there is always a number of meristem cells in a shoot apex even as the shoot grows?
The coleoptile (early shoot) contains enough meristem cells to provide for a juvenile plant to grow into a fully-grown plant.
Mitosis in the shoot tip results in 2 daughter cells, one of which remains meristematic while the other cell differentiates.
Mitosis in the shoot tip results in 4 daughter cells, two of which remain meristematic while the other two differentiate.
The action of plant hormones reverses the effects of differentiation on certain cells, turning them back into meristem cells.
The image below shows two tree species native to North America.
The Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi) typically grows to 45m height at maturity, whereas the silver maple (Acer saccharinum) would only grow to 25m.
Which table would be the best choice for predicting the levels of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) at two parts of a typical growing shoot of these two trees?
