Humans usually don't even know if neighbors are alive from one minute to the next but plants communicate with each other to warn of danger, etc. The genius of the evolution is remarkable and it's revealed in the mechanism they use.
In studies of Arabidopsis thaliana, also known as mustard weed, the team found that when a leaf was nicked, the injured plant sent out an emergency alert to neighboring plants, which began beefing up their defenses.
"A wounded plant will warn its neighbors of danger," says Bais, who is an associate professor of plant and soil sciences in UD's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. "It doesn't shout or text, but it gets the message across. The communication signals are in the form of airborne chemicals released mainly from the leaves."
Science Daily: Plants call 911 to help their neighbors
The good researchers saw an unexpected phenomenon so they immediately asked why.
Sweeney measured auxin, a key plant growth hormone, and found more of this gene expressed in neighboring plants when an injured plant was around. He also confirmed that neighbor plants of injured plants express a gene that corresponds to a malate transporter (ALMT-1). Malate attracts beneficial soil microbes, including Bacillus subtilis, which Bais and his colleagues discovered several years ago. Apparently, uninjured plants that are in close proximity to injured ones and that have increased malate transporter associate more with these microbes. These beneficials bond with the roots of the uninjured plants to boost their defenses.
- SD
For a brief contrary perspective, I heard a distant siren wailing as Fort Worth tested its Tornado Warning at 1300. I thought was one oddly weak warning and I went to the other end of the house to ask Yevette's thoughts on it.
Ed: she didn't hear it?
Nope
That phenomenon appears to be common in tornado zones where the damage wreaked can be frightful but the warning systems are weak as that was the circumstance in Cincinnati as well.
However, mustard plants figured that out and designed a system which is immediately effective for their neighbors and what else should the Rockhouse do but admire the ingenuity.
Ed: I'm getting queasy about all this anthropomorphism like you will segue to predestination and start building another Ark, maybe in Louisiana this time.
Nah, that's not the drive here.
However, Sweeney, author of the paper sounds highly altruistic.
The son of UD alums, Sweeney first visited the Delaware Biotechnology Institute as an eighth grader, for a boot camp on basic laboratory procedures, which sparked his interest in research. He has since won the 2016 Delaware BioGENEius Challenge, was a 2016 international BioGENEius Challenge finalist and was named a semifinalist in the 2017 Regeneron Science Talent Search. This fall, he will head off to MIT, double-majoring in economics and biological engineering.
"I'm interested in looking at the agricultural side of science," he says. "It may not sound sexy, but everybody needs to eat. So if you can use cutting-edge technologies in genomics that feed more people while lessening the environmental footprint, that's where I want to be."
- SD
He had an odd educational curriculum but he's also getting published so the motive behind the fellow is working well.
In studies of Arabidopsis thaliana, also known as mustard weed, the team found that when a leaf was nicked, the injured plant sent out an emergency alert to neighboring plants, which began beefing up their defenses.
"A wounded plant will warn its neighbors of danger," says Bais, who is an associate professor of plant and soil sciences in UD's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. "It doesn't shout or text, but it gets the message across. The communication signals are in the form of airborne chemicals released mainly from the leaves."
Science Daily: Plants call 911 to help their neighbors
The good researchers saw an unexpected phenomenon so they immediately asked why.
Sweeney measured auxin, a key plant growth hormone, and found more of this gene expressed in neighboring plants when an injured plant was around. He also confirmed that neighbor plants of injured plants express a gene that corresponds to a malate transporter (ALMT-1). Malate attracts beneficial soil microbes, including Bacillus subtilis, which Bais and his colleagues discovered several years ago. Apparently, uninjured plants that are in close proximity to injured ones and that have increased malate transporter associate more with these microbes. These beneficials bond with the roots of the uninjured plants to boost their defenses.
- SD
For a brief contrary perspective, I heard a distant siren wailing as Fort Worth tested its Tornado Warning at 1300. I thought was one oddly weak warning and I went to the other end of the house to ask Yevette's thoughts on it.
Ed: she didn't hear it?
Nope
That phenomenon appears to be common in tornado zones where the damage wreaked can be frightful but the warning systems are weak as that was the circumstance in Cincinnati as well.
However, mustard plants figured that out and designed a system which is immediately effective for their neighbors and what else should the Rockhouse do but admire the ingenuity.
Ed: I'm getting queasy about all this anthropomorphism like you will segue to predestination and start building another Ark, maybe in Louisiana this time.
Nah, that's not the drive here.
However, Sweeney, author of the paper sounds highly altruistic.
The son of UD alums, Sweeney first visited the Delaware Biotechnology Institute as an eighth grader, for a boot camp on basic laboratory procedures, which sparked his interest in research. He has since won the 2016 Delaware BioGENEius Challenge, was a 2016 international BioGENEius Challenge finalist and was named a semifinalist in the 2017 Regeneron Science Talent Search. This fall, he will head off to MIT, double-majoring in economics and biological engineering.
"I'm interested in looking at the agricultural side of science," he says. "It may not sound sexy, but everybody needs to eat. So if you can use cutting-edge technologies in genomics that feed more people while lessening the environmental footprint, that's where I want to be."
- SD
He had an odd educational curriculum but he's also getting published so the motive behind the fellow is working well.
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