RESUMEN
The 21st-century "plant neurobiology" movement is an amalgam of scholars interested in how "neural processes", broadly defined, lead to changes in plant behavior. Integral to the movement (now called plant behavioral biology) is a triad of historically marginalized subdisciplines, namely plant ethology, whole plant electrophysiology and plant comparative psychology, that set plant neurobiology apart from the mainstream. A central tenet held by these "triad disciplines" is that plants are exquisitely sensitive to environmental perturbations and that destructive experimental manipulations rapidly and profoundly affect plant function. Since destructive measurements have been the norm in plant physiology, much of our "textbook knowledge" concerning plant physiology is unrelated to normal plant function. As such, scientists in the triad disciplines favor a more natural and holistic approach toward understanding plant function. By examining the history, philosophy, sociology and psychology of the triad disciplines, this paper refutes in eight ways the criticism that plant neurobiology presents nothing new, and that the topics of plant neurobiology fall squarely under the purview of mainstream plant physiology. It is argued that although the triad disciplines and mainstream plant physiology share the common goal of understanding plant function, they are distinct in having their own intellectual histories and epistemologies.
Asunto(s)
Neurobiología , Fenómenos Fisiológicos de las Plantas , Plantas , Plantas/metabolismoAsunto(s)
Transporte Biológico/inmunología , Resistencia a la Enfermedad/inmunología , Ácidos Pipecólicos/inmunología , Desarrollo de la Planta/fisiología , Inmunidad de la Planta/fisiología , Semillas/crecimiento & desarrollo , Tracheophyta/fisiología , Productos Agrícolas/inmunología , Proteínas de Choque Térmico/fisiología , Orobanche/inmunología , Hojas de la Planta/inmunología , Malezas/inmunología , Especies Reactivas de Oxígeno , Semillas/efectos de los fármacos , Sorghum/inmunología , Striga/inmunologíaAsunto(s)
Acuaporinas/metabolismo , Brasinoesteroides/metabolismo , Chlamydomonas/fisiología , Frutas/crecimiento & desarrollo , Medicago truncatula/fisiología , Picea/fisiología , Aguas Salinas/efectos adversos , Autofagia/fisiología , Metabolismo de los Lípidos/fisiología , Medicago truncatula/genética , Células Vegetales/metabolismo , Rayos UltravioletaAsunto(s)
Arabidopsis/parasitología , Briófitas/crecimiento & desarrollo , Melatonina/metabolismo , Ácaros/genética , Miosinas/metabolismo , Pectinas/metabolismo , Estomas de Plantas/metabolismo , Animales , Briófitas/efectos de los fármacos , Evolución Molecular , Fenotipo , Senescencia de la Planta/genética , Estomas de Plantas/anatomía & histología , Estomas de Plantas/genéticaAsunto(s)
Adaptación Ocular/fisiología , Adaptación Fisiológica/fisiología , Deshidratación/fisiopatología , Proteínas de Unión al GTP/metabolismo , Glicoproteínas/metabolismo , Oryza/crecimiento & desarrollo , Hojas de la Planta/anatomía & histología , Semillas/crecimiento & desarrollo , Arabidopsis/fisiología , Productos Agrícolas/crecimiento & desarrollo , Sequías , Regulación de la Expresión Génica de las Plantas , Genes de Plantas , Estomas de Plantas/fisiología , Semillas/genética , Rayos Ultravioleta/efectos adversosAsunto(s)
Briófitas/crecimiento & desarrollo , Ácaros/parasitología , Fenotipo , Pinus/crecimiento & desarrollo , Plantas/efectos de la radiación , Potyvirus/patogenicidad , Rayos Ultravioleta/efectos adversos , Animales , Cloroplastos , Resistencia a la Enfermedad/fisiología , Células Germinativas de las Plantas/crecimiento & desarrollo , Hojas de la Planta/anatomía & histología , Hojas de la Planta/crecimiento & desarrollo , RibosomasAsunto(s)
Apoptosis/efectos de los fármacos , Membrana Celular/química , Magnoliopsida/crecimiento & desarrollo , Necrosis y Clorosis de las Plantas/genética , Polinización/efectos de los fármacos , Esfingolípidos/metabolismo , Xilema/crecimiento & desarrollo , Cucumis sativus/fisiología , Frutas/fisiología , Proteínas de Choque Térmico/metabolismo , Magnoliopsida/metabolismo , Ornitina Descarboxilasa/metabolismoAsunto(s)
Deshidratación/fisiopatología , Dendrobium/crecimiento & desarrollo , Flores/crecimiento & desarrollo , Fitomejoramiento/métodos , Tallos de la Planta/fisiología , Tiamina/metabolismo , Vitis/fisiología , Adaptación Fisiológica/fisiología , Transporte Biológico/fisiología , Productos Agrícolas/fisiología , Adaptación a la Oscuridad/fisiología , Senescencia de la Planta/fisiología , Poligalacturonasa/metabolismo , Estrés Fisiológico/fisiologíaAsunto(s)
Cucumis sativus/crecimiento & desarrollo , Endodermo/crecimiento & desarrollo , Frutas/crecimiento & desarrollo , Ácidos Indolacéticos/metabolismo , Infecciones por Nematodos/fisiopatología , Brotes de la Planta/parasitología , ARN Mensajero , Transporte Biológico/fisiología , Dióxido de Carbono/metabolismo , Cloroplastos/metabolismo , Ciclopentanos/metabolismo , Nitrógeno/metabolismo , Oxilipinas/metabolismoAsunto(s)
Abelmoschus/crecimiento & desarrollo , Transporte Biológico/genética , Respuesta al Choque Térmico/fisiología , Nitrógeno/deficiencia , Raíces de Plantas/genética , Semillas/crecimiento & desarrollo , Solanum lycopersicum/crecimiento & desarrollo , Chlamydomonas/fisiología , Frutas/crecimiento & desarrollo , Proteínas de Choque Térmico/metabolismo , Fenotipo , Fosfolipasas/metabolismo , Complejo de Proteína del Fotosistema II/fisiología , Raíces de Plantas/fisiología , Quercetina/análogos & derivados , Quercetina/metabolismo , Semillas/efectos de los fármacosAsunto(s)
Ácidos Grasos/metabolismo , Hormonas Peptídicas/metabolismo , Fotosíntesis , Reguladores del Crecimiento de las Plantas/metabolismo , Plantas/genética , ARN de Planta/genética , Respiración de la Célula , Aceites Industriales , Nanopartículas , Fenómenos Fisiológicos de las Plantas , Plantas/química , Triglicéridos/metabolismo , Agua/metabolismoAsunto(s)
Carotenoides/metabolismo , Ritmo Circadiano/efectos de los fármacos , Cuscuta/crecimiento & desarrollo , Deshidratación/fisiopatología , Magnesio/metabolismo , Hojas de la Planta/crecimiento & desarrollo , Raíces de Plantas/anatomía & histología , Raíces de Plantas/crecimiento & desarrollo , Adaptación Fisiológica , Cuscuta/parasitologíaRESUMEN
Sir Jagadis Chandra Bose, India's first modern biologist departed boldly from mainstream botany by claiming that plants possess "nerves" and "pulsating cells" that function respectively much like the nerve and heart cells of animals. These ideas were based on highly sensitive measurements he made of various plant functions by means of assorted ingenious instruments of his own design. Despite being the most internationally celebrated plant biologist of the early 20th century, by the end of his life, Bose had become a scientific pariah whose work was expunged from Western histories of plant biology for nearly a century. In the 21st century, Bose's contributions to biology have begun to be appreciated anew, particularly within the plant neurobiology community. The present contribution examines the motivating factors behind the anti-Bose camp in the United States in the 1920s. It is concluded that the opposition to Bose's ideas during this period had less to do with scientific dialectics than with jealousy over Bose's international acclaim and the prevailing racism of the era.
Asunto(s)
Neurobiología/métodos , Investigadores , Historia del Siglo XX , Humanos , Plantas/genética , Plantas/metabolismo , RacismoRESUMEN
Foliar nyctinasty is a plant behaviour characterised by a pronounced daily oscillation in leaf orientation. During the day, the blades of nyctinastic plant leaves (or leaflets) assume a more or less horizontal position that optimises their ability to capture sunlight for photosynthesis. At night, the positions that the leaf blades assume, regardless of whether they arise by rising, falling or twisting, are essentially vertical. Among the ideas put forth to explain the raison d'être of foliar nyctinasty are that it: (i) improves the temperature relations of plants; (ii) helps remove surface water from foliage; (iii) prevents the disruption of photoperiodism by moonlight; and (iv) directly discourages insect herbivory. After discussing these previous hypotheses, a novel tritrophic hypothesis is introduced that proposes that foliar nyctinasty constitutes an indirect plant defence against nocturnal herbivores. It is suggested that the reduction in physical clutter that follows from nocturnal leaf closure may increase the foraging success of many types of animals that prey upon or parasitise herbivores. Predators and parasitoids generally use some combination of visual, auditory or olfactory cues to detect prey. In terrestrial environments, it is hypothesised that the vertical orientation of the blades of nyctinastic plants at night would be especially beneficial to flying nocturnal predators (e.g. bats and owls) and parasitoids whose modus operandi is death from above. The movements of prey beneath a plant with vertically oriented foliage would be visually more obvious to gleaning or swooping predators under nocturnal or crepuscular conditions. Such predators could also detect sounds made by prey better without baffling layers of foliage overhead to damp and disperse the signal. Moreover, any volatiles released by the prey would diffuse more directly to the awaiting olfactory apparatus of the predators or parasitoids. In addition to facilitating the demise of herbivores by carnivores and parasitoids, foliar nyctinasty, much like the enhanced illumination of the full moon, may mitigate feeding by nocturnal herbivores by altering their foraging behaviour. Foliar nyctinasty could also provide a competitive advantage by encouraging herbivores, seeking more cover, to forage on or around non-nyctinastic species. As an added advantage, foliar nyctinasty, by decreasing the temperature between plants through its effects on re-radiation, may slow certain types of ectothermic herbivores making them more vulnerable to predation. Foliar nyctinasty also may not solely be a behavioural adaptation against folivores; by discouraging foraging by granivores, the inclusive fitness of nyctinastic plants may be increased.