Dynamic protoneural networks in plants

Abstract

Taking as a basis of discussion Kalanchoe's spontaneous and evoked extracellular activities recorded at the whole plant level, we put the challenging questions: do these low-voltage variations, together with endocellular events, reflect integrative properties and complex behavior in plants? Does it reflect common perceptive systems in animal and plant species? Is the ability of plants to treat short-term variations and information transfer without nervous system relevant? Is a protoneural construction of the world by lower organisms possible? More generally, the aim of this paper is to reevaluate the probably underestimated role of plant surface potentials in the plant relation life, carefully comparing the biogenesis of both animal and plant organisms in the era of plant neurobiology. Knowing that surface potentials participate at least to morphogenesis, cell to cell coupling, long distance transmission and transduction of stimuli, some hypothesis are given indicating that plants have to be studied as environmental biosensors and non linear dynamic systems able to detect transitional states between perception and response to stimuli. This study is conducted in the frame of the "plasticity paradigm," which gives a theoretical model of evolutionary processes and suggests some hypothesis about the nature of complexity, information and behavior.

Plant “electrome” can be pushed toward a self-organized critical state by external cues: Evidences from a study with soybean seedlings subject to different environmental conditions

“…As previously suggested 12,15 the dynamic of global electrical signals in plants, emerging from the integration of local (cell-tocell) electrical activity, is not a pure stochastic noise (white noise), and can be related to the physiologic state of the plants under different environmental conditions. A variety of natural phenomena are well described by 1/f btype noises, with b ranging from 0 (white noise) to > 2 (reddened noise)., 19,23,24 In our study, the interval of the b exponents values (often from 1.5 up to 3) of the PSD functions (Fig.…”

“…Thus, the dynamic that emerges from integration of electrical signals of each cell in a tissue must exhibits a high level of complexity. On the other hand, as observed herein, eventual bursts of spikes emerge as an outcome of self-organized collective behavior among groups of cells., 15,16 To try elucidating the possible roles of the temporal dynamic of electrical signaling in the plant-environment relationship, our study brings evidence that plants can be pushed to a selforganized critical state under some specific situations. The power law distribution of the spikes in the log-log histogram (pdf), only in plants subjected to environmental stimuli supports this hypothesis.…”

“…This complex system transports, integrates and processes electrical and molecular signals that can stores information and engenders a genetic and cognitive memory that operate together. 13 In plants, based on empirical studies, 14 Debono 15 have correlated electrophytografic activity (EPG) as resultant of an integration of intracellular APs derivate from synchronized "protoneural networks," diffusing information at the whole plant level. EPGs are extracellular spontaneous surface potential variations, as well as evoked bursts of spikes recorded at the level of leaves or roots.…”

“…Accordingly, low voltage potential variations recorded at the level of group of polarized cells or tissues could participate to the fine regulation of physiologic functions of plants. 15 In the present study, we have investigated how the low-voltage electrical signals of soybean seedlings change their temporal dynamic under different constant environmental conditions. Herein, to work on a specific framework to settle this type of the study, we are adopting the term "electrome" 13 as a reference to the non-local electrophysiology measurements.…”

Root Apex Transition Zone As Oscillatory Zone

“…Currently, the mainstream of plant sciences considers plants for passive automata-like organisms, lacking any sensory-motoric circuits. But this position, which is based on ancient Aristotelian worldviews, depriving plants of cognition-relevant sensitivities and activities are not tenable anymore (Brenner et al, 2006, 2007;Trewavas, 2007, Trewavas, 2009; Barlow, 2008; Baluška, 2009; Calvo and Keijzer, 2010; Karpiński, 2010; and Szechyńska-Hebda, 2010;; Trewavas and Baluška, 2011; Marder, 2012, 2013; Debono, 2013). Especially root behavior shows cognitive features which are not possible to explain with currently dominated views of passive, automata-like organisms (Baluška et al, 2010b; Barlow, 2010a, b; Gagliano et al, 2012).…”