Plant Nervous System

Tea catechins - antioxidants such as epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) account for up to 42% of the dry weight of brewed green tea, and the amino acid L-theanine makes up around 3%. EGCG is thought to make people feel calmer and improve memory and attention when consumed on its own. L-theanine is found to have a similar effect when consumed in combination with caffeine. Up to 5% of the dry weight of green tea is caffeine, which is known to improve mood, alertness, and cognition. So, as you need attention to read this, make a cup of tea for yourself and dip your fingers into the hot tea. In the time of a blink, you would remove your fingers as you would sense hot.

Now the inner you might be thinking that what the nonsense is this guy talking. We know that “it’s because of the reflex caused by nervous system. As the nervous system controls conscious and unconscious motor and sensory as well as emotional and intellectual functions. It is divided in the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The CNS consists of the brain and spinal cord. Afferent neurons which connect the peripheral tissue to the spinal cord constitute the part of the PNS that allows perception of external sensation and body function. Efferent neurons which connect the spinal cord to the peripheral tissue constitute the part of PNS that regulates the activity of peripheral tissue. The efferent section is sub-divided into the somatic and autonomic nervous systems. The somatic part is involved in voluntary activity such as condition of the skeletal muscle.”

And also, the mechanism of animal nerve cells interacting with each other is known to us. With the aid of an amino acid called glutamate, which after being released by an excited nerve cell helps set off a wave of calcium ions in adjacent cells. The wave travels down the next nerve cell, which relays a signal to the next one in line, enabling long-distance communication.

However, like most organisms, plants can sense the world around them, process information from their environment, and respond to this information by altering their growth and development. In fact, plants respond to changes in their environment in ways that many would find surprisingly sophisticated, although botanists have known of these abilities for centuries

But the question is how a plant senses the environment. What mechanism runs behind their interaction. Recent studies show that when a leaf gets eaten, it warns other leaves by using some of the same signals as animals. Plant biologists have unraveled a longstanding mystery about how different parts of a plant communicate with one another. This study combines genetic and imaging approaches to reveal a rapid and long-distance signaling pathway that communicates leaf damage to intact leaves that are spatially and developmentally distant from the wounded leaf. They developed a molecular sensor that could detect increases in calcium. They bred the sensor, which glows brighter as calcium levels increase, into a mustard plant called Arabidopsis thaliana.

(Fig. 1) Genetically modified Arabidopsis thaliana

They then cut one of its leaves to see whether they could detect any calcnext to the wound; then the glow appeared and disappeared farther away until the wave of calcium reached the other leaves (above). Further studies of Mudayium activity. They immediately saw a glow that got brighter, then dimmer, right  and Brown-Harding pinpointed glutamate as the trigger of the calcium wave.

(Fig. 2)

(Fig. 3)

Toyota et al. detect increased calcium signals at the site of both herbivore and mechanical wounding within 2 sec and in distant leaves within 2 min after damage. This signal moves through the plant vasculature at rates of ~10-3 mm/s, which is faster than can be explained by diffusion.

We still don’t know the entire biochemistry that goes behind the mechanism. But we hope that in near future we shall have an answer. Until then keep learning and spread knowledge. Feel free to comment down below your opinions and I would love to read some healthy criticizes about me and my writing.