Vicenta Salvador Recatala

thank you Janni for making it possible!

Michael, I am not sure that my research can be of direct benefit to yours. I use aphids as intracellular electrodes, phloem-specific electrodes. They are a superior, biological version of man-made glass electrodes. Though them, we can detect changes in the membrane potential of sieve elements without damaging them, nor the plant. I am sure that these voltage changes in the phloem generate an electric field. but I don't know whether this electric field affects the aphids or not, i.e. whether they have magneto reception, like birds, or not. It would be interesting to find out though! Maybe the research group of Daniel Robert in Bristol who work with floral electric fields could be of help to you. Good luck with your project!

I tried cold water to leaves (no effect), and to root (small transient depolarization... I need to make sure that it is not an artefact!). Aphids provide data for a long time, fortunately, although when I apply high salt they do not like it and tend to take their stylets out of the phloem. I am reading a paper by the Shabala group (your neighbor in Tasmania) that says that sodium does not even enter the xylem... but that its effects on root physiology are via the depolarization only. So, to answer your latest question, the effect is apparently not due to sodium nor to osmolarity, but to the depolarization. Although it is likely that high concentrations (200 mM or more) induce a osmolarity shock. Would that induce a pressure wave in the xylem / phloem vasculature?

They are easy enough to get, but I hope that they reproduce in the greenhouse so that I can do more experiments in the fall and winter months where they will not be available in the ponds...

You guys are awesome!

Many, many thanks for your kind donation, Tony!!

Many thanks Gene!

I study long distance electrical signals of plants that travel through the vascular system, and ferns have the most primitive vascular system of all land plants. Being an evolutionary physiologist (I did my Ph.D. on structure-function of metazoan ion channels in an evolutionary context), I am interested in developing this neglected research field by means of comparative studies on long-distance electrical signalling in primitive and modern plant vasculatures. This research would also help answer the question: did plants evolve alternative mechanisms to make and transmit electrical signals in response to similar environmental stimuli, or is there a common, central mechanism? For this I would have to, eventually, combine electrophysiological and genetic data. The more I study this feature, the more convinced I am that it is much more sophisticated than previously thought. It is unfortunate that fern aphids are really scarce in Europe!

I study long distance electrical signals of plants that travel through the vascular system, and ferns have the most primitive vascular system of all land plants. Being an evolutionary physiologist (I did my Ph.D. on structure-function of metazoan ion channels in an evolutionary context), I am interested in developing this neglected research field by means of comparative studies on long-distance electrical signalling in primitive and modern plant vasculatures. This research would also help answer the question: did plants evolve alternative mechanisms to make and transmit electrical signals in response to similar environmental stimuli, or is there a common, central mechanism? For this I would have to, eventually, combine electrophysiological and genetic data. The more I study this feature, the more convinced I am that it is much more sophisticated than previously thought. It is too bad that I cannot find aphids on the ferns that grow in Germany!

Ferns have the most primitive vascular system of all land plants, and the electrical signals that I study on plants travel through the vascular system. I did my Ph.D. on structure-function of metazoan ion channels in an evolutionary context, and I would like to develop a similar research program for plants. In fact, nobody is doing that, as far as I know. This study would provide valuable data for comparative studies on long-distance electrical signalling in primitive and modern plant vasculatures, as well as insights about the biodiversity of this trait. Eventually, I would like to combine electrophysiological and genetic data. This will help answer some pending questions in the field such as: Did plants evolve alternative mechanisms to make and transmit electrical signals? The more I study this trait of plants, the more convinced I am that it is much more sophisticated than previously thought. It is too bad that I cannot find aphids on the ferns that grow in Germany!

Ferns have the most primitive vascular system of all land plants, and the electrical signals that I study on plants travel through the vascular system. I did my Ph.D. on structure-function of metazoan ion channels in an evolutionary context, and I would like to develop a similar research program for plants. In fact, nobody is doing that, as far as I know. This study would provide valuable data for comparative studies on long-distance electrical signalling in primitive and modern plant vasculatures, as well as insights about the biodiversity of this trait. Eventually, I would like to combine electrophysiological and genetic data. This will help answer some pending questions in the field such as: Did plants evolve alternative mechanisms to make and transmit electrical signals? The more I study this trait of plants, the more convinced I am that it is much more sophisticated than previously thought. It is too bad that I cannot find aphids on the ferns that grow in Germany! On the other hand, a research stay in their natural environment could be more interesting...

Ferns have the most primitive vascular system of all land plants, and the electrical signals that I study on plants travel through the vascular system. This aspect of the plant physiology (long-distance electrical signals) is very, very poorly understood. So, this study would provide valuable data for comparative studies of the excitability and long-distance electrical signalling in primitive and modern plant vasculatures. I am also intrigued about the possibility that plants have evolved very different ways to make and transmit these electrical signals. Therefore, this project will also provide insights about the biodiversity of this trait. Eventually, I would like to combine the electrophysiological work with genetic data.