Plant research newly thought: light -controlled defense mechanisms decrypted

Plant research newly thought: light -controlled defense mechanisms decrypted

In the fascinating world of plant research, scientists have made significant progress. In contrast to many other living things, plants are not able to move to another location in the event of threats from predators or unfavorable environmental conditions. This means that they had to develop innovative strategies to survive. Findings about how plants react to threats have recently been published by a team at the Julius Maximilians University in Würzburg (JMU) and could revolutionize the basics of our knowledge about vegetable signal processes.

The central role of calcium

A key factor in the reaction of plants to stress is the secondary messenger calcium. Changes to the calcium level in the cell activate various defense mechanisms. However, it was also found that changes in the membrane potential, i.e. the electrically charged surfaces of the cells, play an important role.

innovative lighting control and rhodopsine

For their study, the researchers worked with tobacco plants that are equipped with special ion channels that can be activated by light. This optogenetic method, which has already revolutionized the neurosciences, has been transferred to plant research. The Channelrhodopsine, which come from algae, are essential for this technology and enable targeted manipulations of cell processes through light rays.

The significant progress in the use of channel rhodopsins was the result of decades of research. Over 20 years ago, Peter Hegemann, Georg Nagel and Ernst Bamberg laid the foundation for optogenetics. In the current study, the researchers were able to show that activation of calcium channels in the tobacco plants plays a decisive role in their stress reactions.

overcoming technical challenges

Another important detail was the light source used. In order to avoid unwanted activations of the Rhodopsine, the plants had to be kept in special growth chambers with red LED light. Under these conditions, the plants showed healthy development and enabled the precise experiments that were needed to test the role of calcium in the stress response of the plants.

knowledge of herbal defense mechanisms

The research clearly showed that water stress and intruder detection activate different signal paths by the plants. In the plants that used the calcium channels, no increase in the plant hormone abscordic acid (ABA) was to be determined after optogenetic stimulation. In contrast, the plants with anion channels reacted with a defense reaction, which was expressed, for example, by withered leaves.

Another remarkable point is the release of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which could be measured by the scientists. These reactions are part of the defense mechanisms that activate the plants against predators. The combination of these findings represents an important step in plant signal processing and opens the door for further research.

Overall, the authors of the study recognize that these discoveries may only be the beginning of a new era in plant research. The possibility of using effective optogenetic tools to analyze the complex signal paths of the plants will undoubtedly have an impact on numerous research fields.