Biophoton Measurement of Herbivore-Induced Plant Responses.

Abstract

We studied spontaneous photon emission from kidney bean leaves infested with kanzawa spider mites, Tetranychus kanzawai Kishida (Acari: Tetranychidae). Strong photon radiation was observed from veins strongly infested with spider mites. Temporal changes in the total photon intensity can be described by two different logistic curves: the one was thought to be due to injury caused by the mites and the other due to induced responses. Photon intensity of the wavelength ranging from 500 to 700 nm increased monotonously soon after spider mites attacked. Photon intensity from 300 to 400 nm began to increase about 20 h after infestation and showed two peaks at about 72 and 120 h. The former phenomena may be the result of direct injury (physical stresses) and the latter to physiological (biochemical) actions related to defensive responses. These results suggest that photon measurement is a powerful tool for evaluating plant responses to herbivory.

Difference in ultraweak photon emissions between sulfonylurea‐resistant and sulfonylurea‐susceptible biotypes of Scirpus juncoides following the application of a sulfonylurea herbicide

“…Recently, there have been several reports regarding the intensity of UPEs as a practical indicator for investigating the physiological state of plants (Hideg et al 1990;Hideg & Inaba 1991a,b;Kobayashi et al 1996;Kawabata et al 2004;Iyozumi et al 2005;Yoshinaga et al 2006). In these studies, the intensity of photon emissions increased with the concentration of a SU herbicide used on S. juncoides.…”

“…The sources of UPEs in this phenomenon have been of considerable interest. So far, various studies have suggested that the possible sources of photon emissions from plants are related to enzymatic reactions or reactive oxygen species (Abeles 1986;Cilento 1988;Slavinski 1988;Watanabe et al 1991;Agatsuma et al 1992;Iyozumi et al 2002;Hakamata et al 2004;Kawabata et al 2004;Iyozumi et al 2005;Yoshinaga et al 2006;Kageyama et al 2007). However, a precise mechanism underlying UPEs from plants remains unclear.…”

“…1994), current research makes it clear that UPEs are associated with physiological conditions and can be used as an effective indicator in undestructive analyses of an organism's living state (Kobayashi et al . 1996; Kawabata et al . 2004).…”

“…Since then, UPEs from living organisms, including fungi, plants, and mammals, have been widely investigated (Abeles 1986;Popp et al 1992;Radotic et al 1998;Beloussov et al 2000;Ohya et al 2002). Although the intensity of UPEs is extremely weak (Inaba 1988;Usa et al 1994), current research makes it clear that UPEs are associated with physiological conditions and can be used as an effective indicator in undestructive analyses of an organism's living state (Kobayashi et al 1996;Kawabata et al 2004). In plants, it has been reported that UPEs increase in response to anaerobic conditions (Roschger et al 1992), phytohormones (Kai et al 1995, and salt stress (Ohya et al 2000).…”

Sulfonylurea-resistant biotypes of Monochoria vaginalis generate higher ultraweak photon emissions than the susceptible ones

“…Ultraweak photon emissions, commonly referred to as biophotons, are very weak light emissions from biological systems with intensities in the order of a few to hundreds of photons per second per square centimeter of surface area, and an almost continuous spectrum within the optical range of at least 200-800 nm [15,16]. Current research makes it clear that ultraweak photon emissions are associated with physiological conditions and can be an effective indicator in nondestructive analyses of organisms in a living state [17,18]. In our previous work, it was demonstrated that the intensity of ultraweak photon emission from Scripus juncoides treated with SU herbicides was different between the SU-resistant biotype and susceptible biotypes, i.e.…”