Abstract
Despite the fact that they are sessile organisms, plants actively move their organs and also use these movements to manipulate the surrounding biotic and abiotic environments. Plants maintain communication with neighboring plants, herbivores, and predators through the emission of diverse chemical compounds by their shoots and roots. These infochemicals modify the environment occupied by plants. Moreover, some infochemicals may induce morphophysiological changes of neighboring plants. We have used methyl-jasmonate (MeJa), a plant natural infochemical, to trigger communication between emitters and receivers Sorghum bicolor plants. The split roots of two plants were allocated to three different pots, with the middle pot containing the roots of both plants. We scored low stomatal conductance (gS) and low CO2 net assimilation (A) using the plants that had contact with the infochemical for the first time. During the second contact, these parameters showed no significant differences, indicating a memory effect. We also observed that the plants that had direct leaf contact with MeJa transmitted sensory information through their roots to neighboring plants. This resulted in higher maximum fluorescence (FM) and structural changes in root anatomy. In conclusion, MeJa emerges as possible trigger for communication between neighboring sorghum plants, in response to the environmental challenges.
Highlights
The main cognitive functions of the nervous system, such as speech, memory, learning ability, and cognition, are strictly attributed to humans and some animals
By just comparing the A of the plants that received the infochemical (T) between the first and second contact, we observed that the A was greater during the second contact than in the first contact by 44.31% at 5 and 31.67% at 7 h after application (HAA)
In cases of photosynthesis reduction, this causes less sugar availability for the plant, leading to the leaves consuming all of the sugar that they have already photosynthesized before complete stomatal closure
Summary
The main cognitive functions of the nervous system, such as speech, memory, learning ability, and cognition, are strictly attributed to humans and some animals. It is known that plants generate numerous different volatile substances, both from their shoots and roots [10], as well as root exudates [11]. The signal emitter can be a plant that, after an attack from a herbivore, activates mechanisms of response, triggering a cascade of internal signaling and long distance communication from the shoot to the root or vice versa. After this process of internal signaling, plant–plant signaling via volatiles can occur [12]
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