PLANTS DO IN FACT EXPERIENCE SENSATION
Recently I've done some research regarding plants and wondered if they experience sensation. I know it is indeed a mystery to many but to my fortune and research, I have discovered that researchers have been studying the matter. They discovered that the Plant's unique nervous system is responsible for detecting distress or attacks on it, like when a leaf is getting eaten, distress signals get sent to other parts of the plant including the leaves with the aid of an amino acid called Glutamate, which excites the cell to release waves of calcium ions from cell to cell. The article states that researchers attempted to cut off a leaf from a plant to see if it reacts. The calcium levels radiated from the site and the surroundings and shot signals to the extremities. The researchers also discovered that the amino acid (Glutamate) was the trigger for the calcium distress waves. What remains a question is, how exactly does the plant transmit the signals? How would it compare to the human nervous system?
- posted by "wahib yared" (3)
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In my previous Biochemistry class, we spent a unit on talking about the effects of calcium within the brain. Calcium is a universal messenger for extracellular signals, and is a huge player in neurotransmitter synthesis and release. Ironically, the presence of calcium plays a major role in memory for humans. There are different patterns of calcium release for when humans are remembering short term vs long term. This article reminded me about this topic and it is interesting to hear that plants too use calcium within an extracellular signal. in this article what plant did they do the study on? It would be interesting to compare physiological responses between different types of plant species.
ReplyDelete-Elise Babula (1)
Reasons might be that some plants can react to those signals. I dont know the name of the plant that has a mouth but that might be an example of how a plant could sense external things happening and reacting to it.
DeleteReasons might be that some plants can react to those signals. I dont know the name of the plant that has a mouth but that might be an example of how a plant could sense external things happening and reacting to it.
Delete-WAHIB YARED
You said that the plant responds to its leaves being cut by releasing calcium ions to transmit signals. Is the purpose of these signals known? The signal by itself is rather useless without a reasonable response, like a radio that sends a signal warning of an attack but with no antennae to capture the message.
ReplyDelete-Isaac Collibee
Reasons might be that some plants can react to those signals. I dont know the name of the plant that has a mouth but that might be an example of how a plant could sense external things happening and reacting to it.
DeleteWhile I previously knew that plants interact with their surrounding environment, I never knew that plants also used glutamate to trigger calcium waves. Interestingly enough, I learned last year in my evolution class that since both plant and animal cells use glutamate to communicate there has to have been an ancient common ancestor between plants and animals that also used glutamate for signaling purposes. As another commenter stated, it would be interesting to know the actual purpose of this signaling in plants. Obviously, all signaling that occurs within a particular organism has a specific purpose, so it will be fascinating to see the reason behind why plant cells emit calcium signals when damaged. Hopefully, more studies will be conducted in the future in order to shed light on how the internal signaling pathways of plants work, as well as how we can manipulate these pathways for our own benefit.
ReplyDeletePosted by James Levangie