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24 Electrophysiology and Phototropism 365<br />

Fig.24.10. Mechanism of biosignaling in green plants<br />

All processes of life have been found to generate electrical fields in every<br />

organism that has been examined with suitable and sufficiently sensitive<br />

measuring techniques. The conduction of electrochemical excitation must<br />

be regarded as one of the most universal properties of living organisms.<br />

It arose in connection with the need for the transmission of a signal to<br />

an external influence from one part of a biological system to another. The<br />

study of the nature of regulatory relations of the plant organism with the<br />

environment is a basic bioelectrochemical problem, one that has a direct<br />

bearing on tasks of controlling the growth and development of plants.<br />

Figure 24.10 illustrates the mechanism of biosignaling in green plants.<br />

Voltage-gated Ca 2+ and K + ionic channels of green plants can function<br />

as biological nanopotentiostats. The study of their electrical activity has<br />

tremendous medical and biological applications. Green plants are a unique<br />

canvas for studying signal transduction. It is the foundation to discovering<br />

and improving biosensors for monitoring the environment, detecting<br />

effects of pollutants, pesticides, and defoliants, predicting and monitoring<br />

climate changes, agriculture, and directing and quickly controlling the<br />

conditions influencing the harvest.<br />

<strong>References</strong><br />

Ahmad M, Cashmore AR (1993) HY4 gene of A. thaliana encodes a protein with characteristics<br />

of a blue-light photoreceptor. Nature 366:162–166<br />

Ahmad M, Jarillo JA, Smirnova O, Cashmore AR (1998) Cryptochrome blue-light photoreceptors<br />

implicated in phototropism. Nature 392:720–723

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