Plant nervous system?

[lamb.charlie]

I have some basic questions that may have huge implications if certain discoveries are made.

With the Venus fly trap, it is able to catch small insects because of tiny hairs on the inside that when touched, causes the pod to close around its prey.

My question is, without even a basic nervous system, how can it respond this way? Even the most basic reflexes of organisms have a very basic system.

Could you fill me in on how this works?

My thought is that if we find that plants have a nervous system of sorts, that that may have properties that would enable us to breed plants with more than just simple reflexes. Is this possible?

[InfiniteNow]

Originally Posted by lamb.charlie

My question is, without even a basic nervous system, how can it respond this way? Even the most basic reflexes of organisms have a very basic system.

Could you fill me in on how this works?

They do have basic nervous systems.


Etaerio - A Plant News Weblog: Do Plants Have Intelligence?

Plants do not think in the way humans do, but they do take in information and respond to it. Plants take cues from their environment to ‘decide’ when to send up shoots, set buds or abscise leaves. Some plants react to attacks by predators by releasing chemical warning signals that are sensed by other plants in the area. Scientists are debating whether these reactions should be considered intelligent.

Researchers are studying signal transduction to learn more about how genetic and hormonal orders are carried out by plants. At present our understanding of the complex interactions of genes and environmental stimuli is limited. Recent research has found that plants have neurotransmitters very similar to those found in humans. A new field, plant neurobiology, has arisen to study the chemical mechanisms behind the growth of plants and their responses to the environment.

You can probably get a bunch more by googling the term "Plant Neurobiology."


Plant neurobiology: an integrated view of plant si...[Trends Plant Sci. 2006] - PubMed Result

Plant neurobiology is a newly focused field of plant biology research that aims to understand how plants process the information they obtain from their environment to develop, prosper and reproduce optimally. The behavior plants exhibit is coordinated across the whole organism by some form of integrated signaling, communication and response system. This system includes long-distance electrical signals, vesicle-mediated transport of auxin in specialized vascular tissues, and production of chemicals known to be neuronal in animals. Here we review how plant neurobiology is being directed toward discovering the mechanisms of signaling in whole plants, as well as among plants and their neighbors.

Cheers.

[lamb.charlie]

Thats wonderful, thank you so much! I'll look more into that.