Abstract
Plants have developed different signaling systems allowing for the integration of environmental cues to coordinate molecular processes associated to both early development and the physiology of the adult plant. Research on systemic signaling in plants has traditionally focused on the role of phytohormones as long-distance signaling molecules, and more recently the importance of peptides and miRNAs in building up this communication process has also been described. However, it is well-known that plants have the ability to generate different types of long-range electrical signals in response to different stimuli such as light, temperature variations, wounding, salt stress, or gravitropic stimulation. Presently, it is unclear whether short or long-distance electrical communication in plants is linked to nutrient uptake. This review deals with aspects of sensory input in plant roots and the propagation of discrete signals to the plant body. We discuss the physiological role of electrical signaling in nutrient uptake and how nutrient variations may become an electrical signal propagating along the plant.
Highlights
Plants have developed different signaling systems allowing for the integration of environmental cues to coordinate molecular processes associated to both early development and the physiology of the adult plant
From bacterial biofilms (Strahl and Hamoen, 2010; Masi and Ciszak, 2014; Prindle et al, 2015) to higher plants (Sanderson, 1872; Darwin, 1897; Bose, 1907; Pickard, 1973) and animals (Galvani, 1791; Hodgkin, 1937; Cole and Curtis, 1939; Armstrong, 2007) electrical communication adopt different forms varying in its complexity from simple graduated or oscillating changes in membrane voltage to the long-range electrical signaling observed in excitable cells
Simple questions emerge from this reasoning, how exactly plants wire up? How electrical signals move through the cellular network? How these signals work together connecting environmental sensing, gene expression, nutrient uptake, gas exchange, water balance, energy production, and waste storing? In this review we are not aiming to answer such ambitious questions but rather to put in perspective the different elements that might contribute to the generation and propagation of the electrical message in the root of land plants
Summary
Pressure-drive swelling is a problem that emerged early in evolution and solved with the emergence of membrane proteins allowing for the synchronous redistribution of ionic gradients across the plasma membrane. Allowing for the synchronization of cellular processes and the communication within cellular communities, electrical sensing, and signaling develops as a wide spread mechanism at the different levels of biological organization. From bacterial biofilms (Strahl and Hamoen, 2010; Masi and Ciszak, 2014; Prindle et al, 2015) to higher plants (Sanderson, 1872; Darwin, 1897; Bose, 1907; Pickard, 1973) and animals (Galvani, 1791; Hodgkin, 1937; Cole and Curtis, 1939; Armstrong, 2007) electrical communication adopt different forms varying in its complexity from simple graduated or oscillating changes in membrane voltage to the long-range electrical signaling observed in excitable cells
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