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University of Adelaide research has shown for the first time that, despite not having a nervous system, plants use signals normally associated with animals when they encounter stress.
Published today in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers at the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology reported how plants respond to their environment with a similar combination of chemical and electrical responses to animals, but through machinery that is specific to plants.
"We've known for a long-time that the animal neurotransmitter GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) is produced by plants under stress, for example when they encounter drought, salinity, viruses, acidic soils or extreme temperatures," says senior author Associate Professor Matthew Gilliham, ARC Future Fellow in the University's School of Agriculture, Food and Wine.
"But it was not known whether GABA was a signal in plants. We've discovered that plants bind GABA in a similar way to animals, resulting in electrical signals that ultimately regulate plant growth when a plant is exposed to a stressful environment."
By identifying how plants respond to GABA the researchers are optimistic that they have opened up many new possibilities for modifying how plants respond to stress.
"The major stresses agricultural crops face like pathogens and poor environmental conditions account for most yield losses around the planet - and consequently food shortages," says co-lead author Professor Stephen Tyerman.
"By identifying how plants use GABA as a stress signal we have a new tool to help in the global effort to breed more stress resilient crops to fight food insecurity."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @04:05PM
I just watched a video on youtube the other day (some conspiracy one) where they were talking about this. I think it came from this site: http://www.holographic-disclosure.com/ [holographic-disclosure.com]
They had a video of a guy with a chainsaw near a tree and were saying how the tree did something while stressed so it was bad to cut them down, etc. Of course, I wouldn't count on youtube videos to be accurate so I didn't make much of it at the time. But people have definitely been saying this if it was in one of those videos.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @04:37PM
I tried searching for what you said but couldn't find this. I did find this interesting bit though.
"Plants can ‘hear’ themselves being eaten - and become defensive when attacked
...
Plants that heard caterpillar sounds released more mustard oils, which are unappealing to caterpillars and thus ward them off
But plants that heard the wind, despite having a similar acoustic sound, knew not to waste their defensive capabilities"
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2677858/Bad-news-vegetarians-Plants-hear-eaten.html [dailymail.co.uk]
I remember a Mythbuster episode where they tried to experiment with music and how that affects plants. I can't remember the results but I have always heard rumors that music and the type of music can affect plants. Perhaps this is it. Perhaps different types of music can have an impact on plants based on how the music mimics various environmental factors that the plant may respond to. Perhaps a study can be done to see how closely the alleged music that affects plants is to various environmental factors. For example if a specific type of music produces sounds in frequency ranges that are similar to those of predators perhaps they could 'confuse' the plant into thinking it's under attack and cause it to waste resources unnecessarily which could affect its growth.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @05:06PM
Maybe. For example, the power line sound may be similar to an insect wings buzzing.
(Score: 3, Informative) by aristarchus on Thursday July 30 2015, @05:47PM
I remember a Mythbuster episode where they tried to experiment with music and how that affects plants. I can't remember the results but I have always heard rumors that music and the type of music can affect plants.
Irrigation system malfunction, all plants died. Experiment results: inconclusive.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday July 30 2015, @07:30PM
I remember doing experiments in grade school using classical music vs rock music and the effects each had on the plants.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by kurenai.tsubasa on Thursday July 30 2015, @10:41PM
What were the results?
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday July 30 2015, @11:13PM
He smoked them... Reggae music is da bomb!
Yo!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday August 03 2015, @03:12PM
The plants responded positively to the Classical Music and negatively to the Rock Music. Anything more than that and I really don't remember.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday July 30 2015, @05:42PM
I read something at least 25 years ago about some trees in the savanna releasing chemicals when goats eat their leaves, and the trees downstream starting to produce toxic chemicals when they perceive these chemicals.
Herd protection, in a sense.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @06:58PM
Almost like our cells release interferons.