Self-discrimination in the tendrils of the vine Cayratia japonica is mediated by physiological connection

Evolutionary Applications

Guo

Noshita

et al. 2018

Self Cite

Accumulating evidence indicates that plants are capable of self/non‐self and kin/stranger discrimination. Plants increase biomass of and resource allocation to roots when they encounter roots of conspecific non‐self‐neighbors, but not when they encounter self roots. Root proliferation usually occurs at the expense of reproductive investment. Therefore, if clonal crops are capable of self/non‐self‐discrimination, spatially aggregated planting with seedlings of the same genotype may decrease root proliferation and produce a higher yield than planting without considering seedling genotype. To test this idea, we grew Helianthus tuberosus (Jerusalem artichoke) in pot and field conditions and examined self/non‐self‐discrimination and the effectiveness of genotype‐aggregated planting. Plants grown in self pairs allocated less to root biomass than plants grown in non‐self pairs in both pot and field conditions; in field conditions, the self pairs produced 40% more tubers by weight than the non‐self pairs. When six sprouts from seed tuber of two different genotypes were grown together, with the two genotypes planted aggregately (AGG) or alternately (ALT), plants in the AGG group produced 14% more tubers than plants in the ALT group. These results suggest that spatial aggregation of genotypes increases tuber production in H. tuberosus . Because we found no evidence for trade‐offs between root biomass and tuber production, suppression of root proliferation may not be the only mechanism behind the benefits of genotype aggregation. By applying the concept of self/non‐self‐discrimination, farmers can increase crop production without additional external inputs or expansion of agricultural land use.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genotype‐aggregated planting improves yield in Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) due to self/non‐self‐discrimination

Evolutionary Applications

Guo

Noshita

et al. 2018

Self Cite

“…In a previous study, we reported that the tendrils of the perennial vine C. japonica exhibit a self-discrimination ability [18]; tendrils of C. japonica were more likely to coil around stems of neighbouring non-self-plants than around those of physiologically connected self-plants. Although the physiological mechanism responsible for this self-discrimination was not identified, it must be different or independent from the oxalate-based avoidance revealed in this study because the self-discrimination was based on physiological integration; the tendrils were more likely to coil around stems from a physiologically severed self-plant than around those of physiologically connected plants.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, coiling around conspecific leaves is likely to represent a non-adaptive behaviour, because a conspecific plant can act as a stronger competitor for space and light than other plant species [16][17][18]. Moreover, conspecifics might be unstable supports for coiling because a climbing plant itself is not stable as a host plant.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vine tendrils use contact chemoreception to avoid conspecific leaves

2017

Proc. R. Soc. B.

Self Cite

Movement and growth habit of climbing plants have attracted attention since the time of Charles Darwin; however, there are no reports on whether plants can choose suitable hosts or avoid unsuitable ones based on chemoreception. Here, I show that the tendrils of Cayratia japonica (Vitaceae) appear to avoid conspecific leaves using contact chemoreception for oxalates, which are highly concentrated in C. japonica leaves. The coiling experiments show that C. japonica has a flexible plastic response to avoid coiling around conspecific leaves. The coiling response is negatively correlated with the oxalate content in the contacted leaves. Experiments using laboratory chemicals indicate that the tendrils avoid oxalate-coated plastic sticks. These results indicate that the tendrils of C. japonica avoid coiling around a conspecific leaf based on contact chemoreception for oxalate compounds. The tendrils of climbing plants may function as a chemoreceptor system to detect the chemical cues of a contacted plant.

“…We performed touch experiments (commonly used to evaluate tendril coiling 14 ) from 3 to 21 November 2016 in M. charantia and C. sativus. In P. caerulea plants, the touch experiment was conducted from 23 July to 30August 2017.…”

Section: Touch Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-discrimination in vine tendrils of different plant families

Sato

Ohsaki

Plant Signaling & Behavior

et al. 2018

Self Cite

Previous study reported a novel type of self-discrimination in the tendrils of the vine Cayratia japonica (Vitaceae). However, whether self-discrimination in tendrils is common in vine plant species has not been elucidated. Here, we investigated whether tendrils of Momordica charantia var. pavel (Cucurbitaceae), Cucumis sativus (Cucurbitaceae) and Passiflora caerulea (Passifloraceae) can discriminate self and non-self plants. We also investigated whether the tendrils of M. charantia and C. sativus can discriminate differences in cultivars to determine the discrimination ability for genetic similarity. We found that tendrils of the M. charantia and P. caerulea were more likely to coil around non-self plant than self plants, but not in C. sativus. Our findings support the common occurrence of self-discrimination in tendrils in different plant taxa, although some species lacked it. Furthermore, tendrils of M. charantia more rapidly coil around different cultivars than around same cultivars. The tendrils of M. charantia may can discriminate differences in cultivars.