Plants: Unitary Organisms Emerging From Integration and Self-organization of Modules

Lüttge, Ulrich

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-06128-9_8

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 91 publications

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“…Attention is especially necessary for unattached parasitic plants because their nutrition normally comes from one single source. For autotrophic plants, the process of attention might be more diffused and difficult to observe empirically because each module is focusing on the most important cue or signal for them at the moment ( Trewavas, 2003 ; Lüttge, 2019 ). So, dodder plants, and other parasitic plants, can be a good model for studying the phenomenon of attention in plants.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detection of Different Hosts From a Distance Alters the Behaviour and Bioelectrical Activity of Cuscuta racemosa

et al. 2021

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In our study, we investigated some physiological and ecological aspects of the life of Cuscuta racemosa Mart. (Convolvulaceae) plants with the hypothesis that they recognise different hosts at a distance from them, and they change their survival strategy depending on what they detect. We also hypothesised that, as an attempt of prolonging their survival through photosynthesis, the synthesis of chlorophylls (a phenomenon not completely explained in these parasitic plants) would be increased if the plants don’t detect a host. We quantified the pigments related to photosynthesis in different treatments and employed techniques such as electrophysiological time series recording, analyses of the complexity of the obtained signals, and machine learning classification to test our hypotheses. The results demonstrate that the absence of a host increases the amounts of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and β-carotene in these plants, and the content varied depending on the host presented. Besides, the electrical signalling of dodders changes according to the species of host perceived in patterns detectable by machine learning techniques, suggesting that they recognise from a distance different host species. Our results indicate that electrical signalling might underpin important processes such as foraging in plants. Finally, we found evidence for a likely process of attention in the dodders toward the host plants. This is probably to be the first empirical evidence for attention in plants and has important implications on plant cognition studies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detection of Different Hosts From a Distance Alters the Behaviour and Bioelectrical Activity of Cuscuta racemosa

et al. 2021

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“…At each scalar level the building-blocks or modules from which the more complex systems are emerging are themselves complex. We have a hierarchy of modules which we can consider as a hierarchy of networks (Lüttge 2019), as symbolized by the cartoons of Fig. 2.…”

Section: Modularity and Emergencementioning

confidence: 99%

Integrative emergence in contrast to separating modularity in plant biology: views on systems biology with information, signals and memory at scalar levels from molecules to the biosphere

Lüttge

2021

Theor. Exp. Plant Physiol.

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Modularity is reductionism and materialism, where modules are considered as building blocks per se. By contrast self-organization of modules in living organisms, like plants, generates the emergence of integrated systems with new properties not predicted by the properties of the modules. This can occur at the hierarchy of a series of scalar levels, where emergent systems become modules for emergence of new systems on the next higher scalar level akin to a hierarchy of networks from molecules, cells and individuals up to the levels of ecosystems, biomes and the entire biosphere or Gaia. The systems on these levels are holobiont-like systems, i.e., central organisms in interaction with all their associated organisms as a unit for selection in evolution. Systems biology, now a modern aspect of plant biology, has started with the advancement of whole-plant physiology in the early 1970s unraveling the roles of signaling for integration and cooperation of parts or modules in the performance of entire plants. Fixation of information in plant memory and emergence from such storage rules the timing of events of emergence. With the enthusiasm promoted by the creative self-organization of modules into the emergence of exciting new systems, biology diverts from the reductionism and materialism of bare modularity. Understanding emergence helps to advance on the rocky paths towards understanding the complexity of life.

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Bidirectional Lateral Transport Barriers in Serving Plant Organs and Integral Plant Functioning: Localized Lignification, Suberinization, and Cutinization

Lüttge

2019

Progress in Botany

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Plants: Unitary Organisms Emerging From Integration and Self-organization of Modules

Cited by 6 publications

References 91 publications

Detection of Different Hosts From a Distance Alters the Behaviour and Bioelectrical Activity of Cuscuta racemosa

Detection of Different Hosts From a Distance Alters the Behaviour and Bioelectrical Activity of Cuscuta racemosa

Integrative emergence in contrast to separating modularity in plant biology: views on systems biology with information, signals and memory at scalar levels from molecules to the biosphere

Bidirectional Lateral Transport Barriers in Serving Plant Organs and Integral Plant Functioning: Localized Lignification, Suberinization, and Cutinization

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