At a molecular level when a cutting is first excised at the stem there is an immediate increase in jasmonic acid, known to be necessary for adventitious root formation. When the cutting is excised from the original root system the root inhibiting hormones, cytokinin and strigolactone, which are made in the root and transported to the stem, decrease in concentration. Polyphenol degradation decreases, increasing auxin concentration. The increased auxin concentration increases nitric oxide concentration which initiates root formation through a MAPK signal cascade and a cGMP-dependent pathway that both regulate mitotic division and are both necessary for the initiation of adventitious root formation. The root primordia form from cambial cells in the stem. In propagation of detached succulent leaves and leaf cuttings, the root primordia typically emerges from the basal callous tissue after the leaf primordia emerges.
