Evidence for the transmission of information through electric potentials in injured avocado trees

The Changes of Power Spectrum of Electrical Signal in Aloe under Several Damage Conditions

“…To the generation of electrical signals on the plant, transmission, reception and transformation mechanism, many researchers agree with the idea that a certain stimuli receptor must be present at the cell membrane, and that a transient polarization, induced by specific ion fluxes through this membrane, is the ultimate agent of the electrical potential signal generation [1,2,13,24]. An action potential is an electrical signal that spreads quickly among plant tissues and organs, traveling at a relative high speed and constant amplitude [4,9,14,18,20], its duration is of the order of milliseconds and are generated by a stimulus that requires a specific threshold for its initiation [7,25]. In this paper, when the smoking, there is little change of the signal amplitude and the distribution of power spectrum compared with control, indicates that the signal is mainly LP.…”

“…Electrical, chemical (hormones), hydraulic and mechanical signals constitute the information system of plants in plant neurobiology [4][5]. In information transmission, because the electrical signal can quickly transmit information over long distances within plant [4][5][6][7], to transmit information more quickly and effectively compared to chemical signals [4,6,8], and it has proved that electrical signals can affect such central physiological processes as the respiratory metabolism, photosynthesis, stomata conductance, water uptake in physiological processes [4,[9][10][11], therefore, the plant electrical signals become a hot research in recent years. Now it is generally believed that potential fluctuation in the plant is a basic physiological property of plant, plant transmits information flow through this nature to make a specific response to environmental stress [6,8,[12][13][14].…”

Electrophysiology of Woody Plants

“…In most of our publications, electrical potentials are monitored continuously using own designed nonpolarizable Ag/AgCl microelectrodes inserted into different positions along the trunk; microelectrode characteristics have been reported by Gurovich & Hermosilla (2009), Gil et al (2009, Oyarce & Gurovich (2011), and consist on a 0.35 mm-diameter silver wire (99.99% Ag), chlorated in a solution of HCl 0.1N for 30 s using a differential voltage of 2.5 V, to obtain an Ag/AgCl coating, which is inserted in a stainless steel hypodermic needle, 0.5 mm in diameter, filled with a KCl 3M solution; both needle ends are heat-sealed with polyethylene. Electrodes were inserted into the trunk using a low velocity electric microdriller, with a barbed microreel, penetrating the phloematic and cambium tissue; needle tip was further inserted into the xylematic tissue, 0.5-0.75 cm, by mechanical pressure.…”

“…On the fourth day, irrigation applied at 15:35 PM did not induce changes in the electrical potential probably due to a low atmospheric demand at that time. Oyarce & Gurovich (2011) examined the nature and specific characteristics of the electrical response to wounding in the woody plant Persea americana (avocado) cv. Hass.…”

“…In fruit bearing deciduous and perennial plant species, electrophysiology studies are very limited as well, although it is in such plants that the need for rapid and efficient signals other than chemical and hydraulic signaling becomes more obvious Nadler et al 2008;Gurovich & Hermosilla, 2009;Oyarce & Gurovich, 2011). These studies have associated the effect of water stress, deficit irrigation, light cycles and mechanical or heat injury with electrical signaling in several fruit bearing tree species.…”