Root Apices as Plant Command Centers

51 Pages·2006·3.89 MB·English

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Communication in Plants:
Neuronal Aspects of Plant Life
Bonn, 8 November 2006
OVERVIEW
A) Plant Intelligence
B) Action Potentials and Synapses
C) Auxin as Plant Neurotransmitter
D) Root Apices as Plant Command Centres
E) Diffuse Nervous System in Plants?
F) Neuronal Molecules in Plants
G) Outlook
Plant Intelligence
Aristoteles (~280 B.C.): Plants have
Soul and Feelings
Darwin (1880): Plants have Diffuse
Brain within Root Apices
“It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the tip of the radicle thus endowed
[with sensitivity] and having the power of directing the movements of the
adjoining parts, acts like the brain of one of the lower animals; the brain
being seated within the anterior end of the body, receiving impressions from
the sense-organs, and directing the several movements.”
Page 573 In:
“The Power of Movement in Plants” by Charles Darwin, Assisted by
Francis Darwin. John Murray, London, 1880
Plant Intelligence
1873
John Burdon-Sanderson: Action
Potentials in Leaf Trap of Dionaea
Julius von Sachs: Not Possible,
Plants do not have Neurons
“Wie könnten Pflanzen nervenähnlichen Signale weiterleiten, wenn sie keine
Nerven haben? Nein, das mußte eine Nebenwirkung eines wichtigeren
Informationsträger sein, vielleicht von einem Wasserstrom durch die Falle.”
Burdon-Sanderson J (1873) Note on electrical phenomena which
accompany irritation of the leaf of Dionaea muscipula in the
excited and unexcited states. Proc R Soc London 21: 491-496
Plant Intelligence
Bose JC (1926) The Nervous Mechanism of Plants.
London, New York: Langmans, Green & Co.
Simons P (1992) The Action Plant.
Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, UK
Roschina VV (2001) Neurotransmitters in Plant Life.
Enfield: Science Publisher, New Hampshire, USA
Baluska F et al. (2006) Communication in Plants.
Neuronal Aspects of Plant Life. Springer Verlag
Plant Intelligence
Plants are Masters of Adaptation
A) Effective and Rapid Sensing of Environmental Signals
B) Effective and Rapid Long-Distance Communication
C) Effective Information Processing
D) Learning and Memory
E) Adaptive Responding
Trewavas A (2003) Aspects of plant intelligence. Ann Bot 92: 1-20
Plant Intelligence
Sessile Lifestyle and
Phenotypic Plasticity
Plant Organs Show Exploratory
Behaviour to Achieve Maximal
Fitness in Given Environment
Trewavas A (2003) Aspects of plant intelligence. Ann Bot 92: 1-20
Plant Intelligence
Sessile Lifestyle and
Phenotypic Plasticity
Light and Gravity:
Critical Environmental Factors in
Shaping Plant Bodies and Positioning
of Plant Organs in Time and Space
Long-Distance Signal
Transmission in Plants
A) Translocation of Hormones
B) Hydraulic Surge Followed by
Variation Potentials
C) Action Potentials
Action Potentials in Plants
1873
Discovered by John Burdon-Sanderson in
The Most Rapid Mean of Long-
Distance Communication Which
is Based on Excitable Plant Cells
Davies E (1987) Action potentials as multifunctional signals in plants:
a unifying hypothesis to explain apparently disparate wound responses.
Plant Cell Environm 10: 623-631