Plant Physiology, Institute of

(full name, K. A. Timiriazev Institute of Plant Physiology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR), a scientific institution that conducts independent research and coordinates the major research projects of other Soviet institutes of plant physiology.

The institute was organized in Moscow in 1934, when the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Plant Physiology was transferred from Leningrad. The laboratory was founded in 1925 by the Cabinet of Plant Anatomy and Physiology, which was established in 1890 in St. Petersburg at the initiative of Academician A. S. Famintsyn. The institute has been directed by A. A. Rikhter (1934–38), A. N. Bakh (1938–46), N. A. Maksimov (1946–52), and A. L. Kursanov (since 1952).

As of 1976, the institute had 15 specialized laboratories for research in photosynthesis, the molecular basis of intracellular regulation, evolutionary physiology, transfer of nutrients, reserve deposits, nucleic acids and protein, tissue culture and morphogenesis, growth and development, chemical regulation, the absorption of nutrients by roots, the biochemistry of trace elements, salt tolerance, hardiness, drought resistance, and water exchange. Research teams study membranes, lipides, secondary substances, isolated organs, primary mechanisms of growth, the automatic regulation of physiological processes, and irrigation farming. The first Soviet phytotron is now operating in the institute.

The institute was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1969.