Sunpatiens compact hot coral: memristors in flowers

Abstract

Leon Chua postulated the theory of a memristor – a resistor with memory – in 1971, and the first solid-state memristor was built in 2008. Memristors exist in vivo as components of plasma membranes in plants, fruits, roots and seeds. A memristor is a nonlinear element; its current-voltage characteristic is similar to that of a Lissajous pattern. Here, we found memristors in flowers. Electrostimulation by bipolar periodic sinusoidal or triangular waves of an androecium, a spur, petals and a pedicel in Sunpatiens flowers induces hysteresis loops with a pinched point at low frequencies between 0.1 mHz and 1 mHz. At high frequencies, the pinched hysteresis loop transforms to a non-pinched hysteresis loop instead of a single line I = U/R for ideal memristors because the amplitude of electrical current depends on capacitance of a flower’s tissue and electrodes, frequency and direction of scanning. The discovery of memristors in Sunpatiens (Impatiens spp.) creates a new direction in the modelling and understanding of electrophysiological phenomena in flowers.

Bioderived materials for stimuli-responsive, adaptive, and neuromorphic systems: A perspective

“…Memory and signaling in plants have been well documented, 125,126 though the mechanisms behind them are still being investigated. Volkov et al performed a series of electrical experiments on several plant species: venus flytrap, 127 Mimosa pudica , 123 aloe vera, 128 potato tubers, 129 pumpkin seeds, 130 apples, 131 and impatiens flowers 132 in search of evidence of resitive memory. These plants were selected because some are model organisms for the study of plant electrophysiology and autonomous motion (venus flytrap, M. pudica ), while the others were included to cover a range of different plant and tissue types.…”