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In order to function in changing environmental conditions, all living organisms need to be equipped with two sets of seemingly contradictory mechanisms; these enable them to (1) integrate themselves in separation from the environment, and (2) sense and communicate with their immediate surrounding. During the course of evolution, several factors—both physical and chemical—have emerged as organismal...
Roots have an extraordinary capacity for adaptive growth which allows them to avoid toxic soil patches or layers and grow into fertile sites. The response of roots to aluminum toxicity, a widespread problem in acid soils, is an excellent model system for investigating the mechanisms that govern this root behavior. In this review, after a short introduction to root growth movement in response to chemical...
The study of symbiotic mycorrhizal associations is of fundamental and practical interest, raising questions about not only interorganism coevolution but also the ecological significance of the symbiosis in sustainable plant production systems. The partners in these associations belong to the Basidiomycota, Ascomycota or Glomeromycota, and about 95% of extant land plants. Successful colonization of...
The neurotransmitters gamma-aminobutyrate (GABA) and gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) are found in virtually all prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. The physiological roles of these metabolites in plants are not yet clear, but both readily accumulate in response to stress through a combination of biochemical and transcriptional processes. GABA accumulation has been associated with the appearance of extracellular...
Parasitic plants invade and rob host plants of water, minerals and carbohydrates. Host attachment, invasion and resource acquisition is mediated through a parasite-encoded organ called the haustorium. Since the vast majority of plants don't develop haustoria, it is of interest to understand the genetic mechanisms that provide parasites with this novel organ. Host–parasite signaling has been most extensively...
Parasitic and carnivorous plants that adopt a heterotrophic lifestyle encounter novel environmental challenges that are shared with other heterotrophs, such as the need to locate hosts or lure prey and the need to overcome the defenses of their intended victims. These challenges are particularly acute for holoparasitic plants that depend entirely on their hosts for nutrients and other resources. In...
Plants possess an elaborate multilayered defense system that relies on the intrinsic ability of plant cells to perceive the presence of pathogens and trigger local and systemic responses. Transmembrane receptors detect highly conserved microbial features and activate signaling cascades that induce defense gene expression. Pathogens deliver effector proteins into plant cells that suppress these responses...
At first glance, the idea of “talking trees” goes against common sense, but we now know that plants can indeed perceive volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or specific light reflected from or transmitted by their neighbors, and that this perception triggers specific responses. Airborne plant–plant communication usually affects the resistance phenotype of a plant growing close to an attacked neighbor...
Chemical aspects of the circadian leaf movement known as nyctinasty are discussed in this chapter. Each nyctinastic plant from the five different genera examined so far contained a pair of factors, one of which induces leaf closure while the other induces leaf opening. Changes in the relative contents of the closing and opening factors correlated with nyctinastic leaf movement. The use of fluorescence-labeled...
Aposematic (warning) coloration is a common defense in plants, although it was largely ignored before 2001. The fact that many aposematic animals use both plant-based pigments and sequestered poisonous molecules to become aposematic emphasizes the absurdity of neglecting the aposematic nature of so many plants. Similar to the situation in animals, aposematic coloration in plants is commonly yellow,...
Sexually deceptive orchids attract male insects as pollinators by mimicking the reproductive signals emitted by the targeted females. Since this mimicry system involves the imitation of female mating signals of certain insects, and since mating signals, especially sex pheromones, generally act on a species-specific basis, theory holds that each sexually deceptive orchid is usually pollinated by only...
Most of the ca. 8,000 angiosperm species that lack floral rewards are orchids pollinated by food-seeking animals. The fitness benefits of floral deception are still being debated, but most of the available evidence suggests that food deception evolves because it strongly promotes cross-pollination. These plants are generally considered to employ either generalized food deception (exploiting innate...
We discuss the possibility and the meaning of the claim that plants are cognitive from the perspective of embodied cognition. In embodied cognition, the notion of cognition can be interpreted in a very broad way and applied to many free-moving creatures. In this chapter, we discuss whether and (if so) how this approach applies to intelligence in plants. Building on work from “plant neurobiology,”...
Plants are sensitive to various abiotic stimuli (including electromagnetic radiations), to which they respond by modifying their development. The response is sometimes delayed, relative to the reception of the stimulus, which implies that the corresponding information is memorized. A few cases of such behavior are described, including that controlling the induction of meristems in the hypocotyl of...
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. —Charles Darwin in The Power of Movement in Plants...
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