The question of plant communication is one of the oldest in the world of biological research. A group of Japanese researchers could have provided important answers.
Do plants communicate? Do they alert each other to imminent danger? There are many questions about the ability of plants to exchange with each other.
Researchers from the University of Saitama (Japan) have succeeded in shedding light, literally, on the communication process of a plant, which they genetically modified for the occasion. The aim of their study, published in October 2023, was to highlight the presence of calcium within the plant and its movement, when it seeks to convey a message. Using a fluorescence microscope, they were able to witness an impressive cellular reaction.
Not only was the research team able to observe this communication, but they even captured this phenomenon in images. A visual treat for science lovers.
Calcium at the center of information
The Arabidopsis thaliana (flowering plant) were put in a dangerous situation, that of a caterpillar attack. To give an alarm to their neighbors, the researchers noticed that the plants used a chemical shift. Waves of calcium signals allowed information to travel from one cell to another.
The scientists were even able to isolate the molecules essential to this information journey: the compound Z-3-HAL made it possible to start the signal, while the compound E-2-HAL allowed the transmission of the information.
Masatsugu Toyota, one of the main architects of this discovery, explained: “We have finally revealed the complex story of when, where and how plants respond to ‘warning messages’ from their threatened neighbors.”
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