Electrical signalling and systemic proteinase inhibitor induction in the wounded plant
D. C. Wildon, J. F. Thain, P. E. H. Minchin, I. R. Gubb, A. J. Reilly, Y. D. Skipper, H. M. Doherty, P. J. O'Donnell & D. J. Bowles
School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand, Centre for Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Leeds
Nature (1992) 360: 62-65
Typical tomato seedlings were used in the mechanical wounding experiments.
This paper offers the first definite evidence between electrical signal and biochemical response in plants, concluding that electrical signal is the underlying mechanism of systematic wound response.
Experiments were designed to distinguish between signal based electrical activity and (phloem-transmissible) chemical signal, showing that systematic response is caused by an electrical signal propagating through the plant.
While plants lack structures comparable to animal nerve cells, the cells in plant tissue are linked by plasmodesmata that have solute permeabilities and electrical conductivities. The electrical responses are instigated by stimuli such as touch, cold, heat shock and osmotic shock.