One‐time Electromagnetic Irradiation Modifies Stress‐sensitive Gene Expressions in Rice Plant

Abstract

Electromagnetic energy is utilized over multiple frequency bands to provide seamless wireless communication services. Plants can well perceive electromagnetic energy present in open environment due to reasonably high permittivity and electrical conductivity of constituent tissues. Moreover, higher surface-to-volume ratio of plant structure facilitates increased interaction with the incident electromagnetic waves. To date, a few well-designed studies have been conducted inside controlled electromagnetic reverberation chambers to investigate either short duration-low amplitude or long duration-periodic electromagnetic irradiation-induced molecular responses in plants. However, as far as is known, studies investigating molecular responses particularly at the mid-vegetative stage in plants following one-time (hours-long) electromagnetic irradiation have not been reported earlier. Hence, the present study aimed at investigating molecular responses in 40-day-old Swarnaprabha rice plants following one-time 1837.50 MHz, 2.75 mW/m 2 electromagnetic irradiation of 2 h 30 min duration. Controlled electromagnetic irradiation inside a simple reverberation chamber was ensured to achieve pure electromagnetic environment at 1837.50 MHz with deterministic electromagnetic power density at selected position. Swarnaprabha rice plant was chosen for this investigation since the rice variety is widely cultivated and consumed in the Indian subcontinent. Subsequent alterations in some selected stress-sensitive gene expressions were assayed using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction technique-significant upregulation in calmodulin and phytochrome B gene expressions were noted. This investigation was purposefully focused on subsequent molecular responses immediately following electromagnetic irradiation so that the possible effects of secondary stimulations could be avoided. Observed molecular responses strongly suggested that plants perceive 1837.50 MHz, 2.75 mW/m 2 electromagnetic irradiation similar to other injurious stimuli.

Role of Power Density, Frequency, Direction of Arrival and Polarization of Incident Field on Specific Absorption Rate Distribution inside a Multilayer Fruits Model

“…This observation is in line with relevant articles published in recent times [9-15, 24, 72, 73]. Hence, global policymakers should promote further research on subsequent biological effects at plant physiological as well as molecular levels and revise existing electromagnetic exposure policies based on the findings [62][63][64][65][66].…”

Biological Effects of Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields above 100 MHz on Fauna and Flora: Workshop Report

“…A single 2.5-h exposure of 12-d-old seedlings also caused changes in gene expression ( Kundu et al 2021a ). Upregulation of stress-related genes, e.g., calmodulin and phytochrome B, was also observed after a single exposure of 40-d-old rice plants ( Kundu et al 2021b ).…”

Electromagnetic Irradiation Induced Residual Physiological Effects in Gram Plant

“…Because they often have a higher surface-to-volume ratio than most other living things, plants are a great choice for studying the biological reactions that electromagnetic radiation causes and the impacts that follow [18,19,20,21]. Studies on the physiological and chemical reactions that plants experience when exposed to electromagnetic radiation on a regular or one-time basis have been conducted throughout the last two decades [22][23]. Because it instantly changes plant gene expressions that are susceptible to stress, controlled www.jchr.org JCHR (2024) 14(1), 2369-2377 | ISSN:2251-6727 electromagnetic exposure is thought to be analogous to wounding [18,20, 22&23].…”

“…Nevertheless, none of the publications discussed how electromagnetic radiation had lingering physiological impacts in plants. i.e., all published research on the subject has shown instantaneous reactions in plants to either one-time or repeated electromagnetic radiation [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. Furthermore, since target plant specimens were not exposed to regulated electromagnetic fields, a number of earlier investigations were unable to provide definitive findings.…”