Electrical signaling and gas exchange in maize plants of drying soil

Electrophysiology of Woody Plants

“…Thus, an extra-cellular electrical signal appears to be involved in root to leaf communication, initiating stomata closure at a very early stage of drought stress. These drought-induced electrical signals were also related to changes in gs, in concordance to other studies published by Fromm & Fei (1998). According to Gurovich & Hermosilla (2009) effects of sunset, daybreak and water application are clearly reflected as fast changes in the EP between the base and leaf area electrode locations on the trunk or stem (Figure 12).…”

Electrical signaling, stomatal conductance, ABA and Ethylene content in avocado trees in response to root hypoxia

“…15,16 It has been postulated that occurrence of electrical signals may be a communication mechanism between roots and shoots. 17,18 Stimulation of roots of Salix viminalis by the application of nutrients, hormones or changes in pH caused changes in the electrical potential difference between the roots and leaves. These changes were followed by a modification of leaf respiration and photosynthetic rates within 3 minutes after treatments were applied, indicating that changes in the electrical signals may reflect or be a direct mechanism of communication between roots and the leaves.…”

“…For short-term electrical measurement, the surface electrode technique was used. 17,18 Surface contact electrodes were placed on the stem, 5 cm above the hydroponic solution surface and in the petiole of a leaf located in the upper half of the plant canopy. The electrodes consisted of a thick cotton thread absorbed with KCl 0.1 M dipped in a 2.0 mL Eppendorf tube containing KCl 0.1 M. The Ag/AgCl electrodes (0.4 mm in diameter) were immersed in the Eppendorf tubes and were connected to an amplifier with an input impedance of 10 11 Ω and DC-1 kHz bandwidth (M-707 Microprobe System; World Precision Instruments, Sarasota, Florida, USA).…”

“…17,20 This signal initiated stomatal closure and resultant decreases in gs and net CO 2 assimilation. A root to leaf electrical signal conducted through the phloem was measured and correlated with gs in avocado trees subjected to soil drying and rewatering.…”

Ways of signal transmission and physiological role of electrical potentials in plants

“…Passing AP wave influences the intensity of gas exchange in angiosperm plants: Cucurbita pepo, Phaseolus vulgaris (Gunar and Sinuykhin 1963;Sinuykhin and Gorchakov 1968), Lycopersicon esculentum (Van Sambeek and Pickard 1976), Salix viminalis (Fromm and Eschrich 1993), Vicia faba (Filek and Ko cielniak 1997), Zea mays (Fromm and Fei 1998). In evolutionary distant plants, belonging to the oldest land plants as the liverwort Conocephalum, electrical or mechanical stimulation (incision of the thallus edge) induces AP or VP, and in several seconds later the respiration intensity increases by up to 100% (Dziubiñska et al 1989).…”