Video: Scientists have shown how plants protect themselves when attacked by insects
2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55
When a person is attacked, sensory cells transmit a signal through our nervous system, which secretes the neurotransmitter glutamate. Glutamate stimulates the amygdala and hypothalamus in our brain. This triggers the stress hormone adrenaline, which puts our bodies in a fight-or-flight mode.
Plants do not have neurotransmitters. They have no nervous system. They don't have a brain. But for the first time, scientists have been able to observe how a plant responds to an attack using real-time imaging, a process very similar to that of humans. Same content, same results, different anatomy.
In the video below, a caterpillar is chewing on a plant. At the site of the wound, the plant releases glutamate. The result is a calcium wave that travels through the plant's entire body, releasing a stress hormone that causes the plants to fight or flee.
To observe exactly what was happening, the scientists took a sample of the jellyfish gene that makes them glow green. They then genetically modified the plants to produce a protein that glows around the calcium. The result is a glowing calcium wave that travels through the plant's vascular system when it is bitten.
This means that the process of processing plant information is very complex. “Someone is chewing on my leaf. I want all my other leaves to taste terrible so I can survive. But I also have to lose a piece of a leaf and a branch. The plant's information system goes into a state of panic, and a series of events is triggered. The difference between plants and animals and humans is that they are able to regenerate the lost parts of themselves.
Simon Gilroy, professor of botany at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, USA, says the research is still in its infancy. The scientist plans to find out if plants can be warned of an attack so that they can defend themselves in advance.
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