New insights on auxin metabolism

Auxin is the longest known phytohormone with many functions. It participates in the development of embryo, in vegetative and generative development, plant stress reaction, and also in their senescence and death. Activity of auxin in plant cells and tissues is quite often compared to the effect of morphogens, i.e. the effect of substances, whose concentrations induce a strictly defined response in tissue and organ formation. Apart from intercellular and intracellular auxin transport, the main determinants of auxin concentration gradients are its biosynthesis and metabolism. Regardless of the long-lasting study of auxin, the complexity of metabolic pathway regulation is still not well known. The aim of this thesis is to summarize current knowledge of the metabolism of auxin in plants, i.e. its biosynthetic pathways, conjugation and oxidation, and put them into a context with older results