Definition of AUXIN

Examples of auxin in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web By studying natural variations in root structure and the genetics associated with these variations, the team homed in on a previously unknown biological pathway that regulates auxin, a plant hormone that helps control root growth. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "Salk Institute scientists get to the root of plant growth," 11 July 2019 Busch’s team identified a gene called EXOCYST70A3 that regulates auxin, without interfering with other pathways. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "Salk Institute scientists get to the root of plant growth," 11 July 2019 The current consensus is that the movements of the growth hormone auxin and the proteins that transport it throughout a plant are responsible for such patterns. — Maddie Burakoff, Smithsonian, "Decoding the Mathematical Secrets of Plants’ Stunning Leaf Patterns," 6 June 2019

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History and Etymology for auxin

borrowed from German Auxin, from aux- (borrowed from Greek auxánein "to make grow, increase, strengthen," from aux- "grow" + -an-, verb formative marking completion) + -in -in entry 1 — more at eke entry 2

Note: The name Auxin was introduced by the German chemist Fritz Kögl (1897-1959) and his co-worker at the University of Utrecht, the Dutch chemist Arie Jan Haagen-Smit (1900-77), in the article "Über die Chemie des Wuchsstoffs (Communicated at the meeting of Dec. 19, 1931…by Prof. F.A.F.C. Went)," Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen [Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences], Proceedings of the Section of Sciences, vol. 34 (1931), pp. 1411-1416: "Wir schlagen für den Wuchsstoff die Bezeichnung Auxin (von auxánō [Greek letters] wachsen machen) vor, wobei es sich zur leichteren Namenbildung bei Derivaten empfehlen wird, hierunter die zugrundeliegende frei Säure zu verstehen" ("We suggest for the growth agent the designation auxin (from auxánō to cause to grow), to be recommended for the easier formation of derivative names, including the underlying free acid").

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