RESUMO
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.
Assuntos
Neurobiologia , Fenômenos Fisiológicos Vegetais , Plantas , Plantas/metabolismoAssuntos
Transporte Biológico/imunologia , Resistência à Doença/imunologia , Ácidos Pipecólicos/imunologia , Desenvolvimento Vegetal/fisiologia , Imunidade Vegetal/fisiologia , Sementes/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Traqueófitas/fisiologia , Produtos Agrícolas/imunologia , Proteínas de Choque Térmico/fisiologia , Orobanche/imunologia , Folhas de Planta/imunologia , Plantas Daninhas/imunologia , Espécies Reativas de Oxigênio , Sementes/efeitos dos fármacos , Sorghum/imunologia , Striga/imunologiaAssuntos
Aquaporinas/metabolismo , Brassinosteroides/metabolismo , Chlamydomonas/fisiologia , Frutas/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Medicago truncatula/fisiologia , Picea/fisiologia , Águas Salinas/efeitos adversos , Autofagia/fisiologia , Metabolismo dos Lipídeos/fisiologia , Medicago truncatula/genética , Células Vegetais/metabolismo , Raios UltravioletaAssuntos
Arabidopsis/parasitologia , Briófitas/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Melatonina/metabolismo , Ácaros/genética , Miosinas/metabolismo , Pectinas/metabolismo , Estômatos de Plantas/metabolismo , Animais , Briófitas/efeitos dos fármacos , Evolução Molecular , Fenótipo , Senescência Vegetal/genética , Estômatos de Plantas/anatomia & histologia , Estômatos de Plantas/genéticaAssuntos
Adaptação Ocular/fisiologia , Adaptação Fisiológica/fisiologia , Desidratação/fisiopatologia , Proteínas de Ligação ao GTP/metabolismo , Glicoproteínas/metabolismo , Oryza/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Folhas de Planta/anatomia & histologia , Sementes/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Arabidopsis/fisiologia , Produtos Agrícolas/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Secas , Regulação da Expressão Gênica de Plantas , Genes de Plantas , Estômatos de Plantas/fisiologia , Sementes/genética , Raios Ultravioleta/efeitos adversosAssuntos
Briófitas/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Ácaros/parasitologia , Fenótipo , Pinus/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Plantas/efeitos da radiação , Potyvirus/patogenicidade , Raios Ultravioleta/efeitos adversos , Animais , Cloroplastos , Resistência à Doença/fisiologia , Células Germinativas Vegetais/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Folhas de Planta/anatomia & histologia , Folhas de Planta/crescimento & desenvolvimento , RibossomosAssuntos
Apoptose/efeitos dos fármacos , Membrana Celular/química , Magnoliopsida/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Necrose e Clorose das Plantas/genética , Polinização/efeitos dos fármacos , Esfingolipídeos/metabolismo , Xilema/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Cucumis sativus/fisiologia , Frutas/fisiologia , Proteínas de Choque Térmico/metabolismo , Magnoliopsida/metabolismo , Ornitina Descarboxilase/metabolismoAssuntos
Desidratação/fisiopatologia , Dendrobium/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Flores/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Melhoramento Vegetal/métodos , Caules de Planta/fisiologia , Tiamina/metabolismo , Vitis/fisiologia , Adaptação Fisiológica/fisiologia , Transporte Biológico/fisiologia , Produtos Agrícolas/fisiologia , Adaptação à Escuridão/fisiologia , Senescência Vegetal/fisiologia , Poligalacturonase/metabolismo , Estresse Fisiológico/fisiologiaAssuntos
Cucumis sativus/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Endoderma/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Frutas/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Ácidos Indolacéticos/metabolismo , Infecções por Nematoides/fisiopatologia , Brotos de Planta/parasitologia , RNA Mensageiro , Transporte Biológico/fisiologia , Dióxido de Carbono/metabolismo , Cloroplastos/metabolismo , Ciclopentanos/metabolismo , Nitrogênio/metabolismo , Oxilipinas/metabolismoAssuntos
Abelmoschus/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Transporte Biológico/genética , Resposta ao Choque Térmico/fisiologia , Nitrogênio/deficiência , Raízes de Plantas/genética , Sementes/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Solanum lycopersicum/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Chlamydomonas/fisiologia , Frutas/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Proteínas de Choque Térmico/metabolismo , Fenótipo , Fosfolipases/metabolismo , Complexo de Proteína do Fotossistema II/fisiologia , Raízes de Plantas/fisiologia , Quercetina/análogos & derivados , Quercetina/metabolismo , Sementes/efeitos dos fármacosAssuntos
Ácidos Graxos/metabolismo , Hormônios Peptídicos/metabolismo , Fotossíntese , Reguladores de Crescimento de Plantas/metabolismo , Plantas/genética , RNA de Plantas/genética , Respiração Celular , Óleos Industriais , Nanopartículas , Fenômenos Fisiológicos Vegetais , Plantas/química , Triglicerídeos/metabolismo , Água/metabolismoAssuntos
Carotenoides/metabolismo , Ritmo Circadiano/efeitos dos fármacos , Cuscuta/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Desidratação/fisiopatologia , Magnésio/metabolismo , Folhas de Planta/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Raízes de Plantas/anatomia & histologia , Raízes de Plantas/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Adaptação Fisiológica , Cuscuta/parasitologiaRESUMO
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.
Assuntos
Neurobiologia/métodos , Pesquisadores , História do Século XX , Humanos , Plantas/genética , Plantas/metabolismo , RacismoRESUMO
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.