A research group led by Yuri Araya, a graduate student at Saitama University Graduate School, is collaborating with Yamaguchi University to visualize calcium (Ca2+) signals that are generated the moment neighboring plants sense the "smell" emitted by a damaged plant. The team successfully demonstrated that this signal conveys danger information to plants and triggers a defense response against insects.
Plants emit various odors into the air.For example, the main component of the grassy smell that wafts when you cut grass is called ``green scent,'' and is used to convey information to surrounding plants that the plant has been ``damaged or chewed by insects.'' There is.This "communication between plants" has been reported for a long time, but there has been no research that visualizes the moment when a plant senses a "smell" in real time.
Therefore, the research group investigated ``what kind of odorants'', ``in which cells'', and ``at what timing'' do plants sense them?Taking advantage of the fact that a fluorescent biosensor (GCaMP) glows brightly due to an increase in intracellular Ca2+ concentration (Ca2+ signal), we attempted to visualize the Ca2+ signal generated in plants that sense an odor using Arabidopsis plants expressing GCaMP. .
As a result, Arabidopsis thaliana produces green scents ((Z)-3-hexenal and (E)-2-hexenal), which are the main components of the grassy odor released when mowing or being eaten by insects. It was observed that Ca1+ signal was generated, which was felt ``about 2 minute'' after volatilization.
As a result, plants do not have a sense of smell, but they sense their surroundings by taking in green scents through their stomata, and by generating Ca2+ signals in their mesophyll cells, they can prepare for further attacks by insects. , it was revealed that this caused a defensive response in the group.
Paper information:[Nature Communications] Green leaf volatile sensory calcium transduction in Arabidopsis
