Alan Jones

František Baluška

Shaul Yalovsky

This volume focuses on the structure, function and regulation of plant signaling G proteins and their function in hormonal pathways, polarity, differentiation, morphogenesis and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. Plants are sessile organisms that need to continuously coordinate between external and internal cues. This coordination requires the existence of hubs to allow cross-talk between different signaling pathways. A single family of Rho GTPases, termed either ROPS or RACs, and heterotrimeric G proteins have emerged as the major molecular switches in a multitude of signal transduction pathway in plants.

Integrated G Proteins Signaling in Plants

Velemir Ninkovic

Since the concept of allelopathy was introduced almost 100 years ago, research has led to an understanding that plants are involved in complex communicative interactions. They use a battery of different signals that convey plant-relevant information within plant individuals as well as between plants of the same species or different species. The 13 chapters of this volume discuss all these topics from an ecological perspective. Communication between plants allows them to share physiological and ecological information relevant for their survival and ?tness. It is obvious that in these very early days of ecological plant communication research we are illuminating only the ‘tip of iceberg’ of the communicative nature of higher plants. Nevertheless, knowledge on the identity and informative value of volatiles used by plants for communication is increasing with breath-taking speed. Among the most spectacular examples are sit- tions where plant emitters warn neighbours about a danger, increasing their innate immunity, or when herbivore-attacked plants attract the enemies of the herbivores (‘cry for help’ and ‘plant bodyguards’ concepts). It is becoming obvious that plants use not only volatile signals but also diverse water soluble molecules, in the case of plant roots, to safeguard their evolutionary success and accomplish self/non-self kin rec- nition. Importantly, as with all the examples of biocommunication, irrespective of whether signals and signs are transmitted via physical or chemical pathways, plant communication is a rule-governed and sign-mediated process.

Plant Communication from an Ecological Perspective

Stefano Mancuso

This is the first comprehensive monograph on all emerging topics in plant signaling. The book addresses diverse aspects of signaling at all levels of plant organization. Emphasis is placed on the integrative aspects of signaling.

Signaling in Plants

Rujin Chen

The importance of the plant growth regulator auxin for plant growth has long been recognized, even before the discovery of its chemical structures in the early 20th century. Physiological studies in the decades since have demonstrated that auxin is unidirectionally transported in plants, a process dubbed polar auxin transport. It is the polar auxin transport process that generates a local auxin concentration gradient and regulates a broad array of physiological and developmental processes. The discoveries of auxin transport carrier proteins that mediate auxin influx into and efflux out of transport-competent cells and auxin receptor proteins for auxin signaling in the last few decades represent significant milestones in auxin research and open up opportunities to probe the cellular and molecular processes that regulate auxin transport and integrate environmental cues with signaling processes. Remarkably, components of the polar auxin transport machinery are present in both lower plants such as mosses and higher plants including monocots and eudicots, illustrating the key role of polar auxin transport in plant evolution. This book highlights topics ranging from physiological and genetic studies of polar auxin transport in plant development, to growth responses to the environment and plant-microbe interactions, to hormonal cross-talks with various cellular and molecular regulatory processes essential for polar auxin transport.

Polar Auxin Transport

Akula Ramakrishna

Soumya Mukherjee

This book provides a comprehensive update on the recent developments concerning the role of plant neurotransmitters in signaling and communication. Physiological investigations over the past few decades have demonstrated that plants employ neurotransmitters in various signaling pathways. Plant-based neurotransmitters (serotonin, melatonin, dopamine, acetylcholine, and GABA) share biochemical similarities with those in animal systems in terms of their chemical nature and biochemical pathways. Plant–environment interaction associated with abiotic stress management, growth modulation, flowering, circadian rhythm, fruit ripening, and allelopathic interactions are a major focus of research in the field, and recent advances in genomic, trascriptomic, and metabolomic approaches have resulted in the deciphering of the molecular mechanisms associated with various neurotransmitters in plants. Other current and potential areas of investigation include the putative phytohormone phytomelatonin, and receptor-mediated signaling in plant neurotransmitters. Providing an up-to-date overview of molecular crosstalk mechanisms between various neurotransmitters, the book offers essential insights to help readers gain a better understanding of the physiology of plant signaling and communication with the environment.

Neurotransmitters in Plant Signaling and Communication

This book discusses the recent advancements in the role of various biomolecules in regulating root growth and development. Rhizobiology is a dynamic sub discipline of plant science which collates investigations from various aspects like physiology, biochemistry, genetic analysis and plant-microbe interactions. The physiology and molecular mechanisms of root development have undergone significant advancements in the last couple of decades. Apart from the already known conventional phytohormones (IAA, GA, cytokinin, ethylene and ABA), certain novel biomolecules have been considered as potential growth regulators or hormones regulating plant growth and development. Root phenotyping and plasticity analysis with respect to the specific functional mutants of each biomolecule shall provide substantial information on the molecular pathways of root signaling. Special emphasis provides insights on the tolerance and modulatory mechanisms of root physiology in response to light burst, ROS generation, agravitrophic response, abiotic stress and biotic interactions.

Rhizobiology: Molecular Physiology of Plant Roots

Our view of plants is changing dramatically. Rather than being only slowly responding organisms, their signaling is often very fast and signals, both of endogenous and exogenous origin, spread throughout plant bodies rapidly. Higher plants coordinate and integrate their tissues and organs via sophisticated sensory systems, which sensitively screen both internal and external factors, feeding them information through both chemical and electrical systemic long-distance communication channels. This revolution in our understanding of higher plants started some twenty years ago with the discovery of systemin and rapid advances continue to be made. This volume captures the current ‘state of the art’ of this exciting topic in plant sciences.

Long-Distance Systemic Signaling and Communication in Plants

Jorge M. Vivanco

Secretions and emissions in biological systems play important signaling roles within the organism but also in its communications with the surrounding environment. This volume brings together state-of-the-art information on the role of secretions and emissions in different organs and organisms ranging from flowers and roots of plants to nematodes and human organs. The plant chapters relate information regarding the biochemistry of flower volatiles and root exudates, and their role in attracting pollinators and soil microbial communities respectively. Microbial chapters explain the biochemistry and ecology of quorum sensing and how microbial communities highly co-adapted to plants can aid in bio-energy applications by degrading ligno-cellulosic materials. Other chapters explain the biology of secretions by nematodes, algae and humans, among other organisms. This volume will be a welcome addition to the literature, as no other book covers aspects related to biological secretion in such a holistic and integrative manner.

Secretions and Exudates in Biological Systems

Our image of plants is changing dramatically away from passive entities merely subject to environmental forces and organisms that are designed solely for the accumulation of photosynthate. Plants are revealing themselves to be dynamic and highly sensitive organisms that actively and competitively forage for limited resources, both above and below ground, organisms that accurately gauge their circumstances, use sophisticated cost-benefit analysis, and take clear actions to mitigate and control diverse environmental threats. Moreover, plants are also capable of complex recognition of self and non-self and are territorial in behavior. They are as sophisticated in behavior as animals but their potential has been masked because it operates on time scales many orders of magnitude less than those of animals. Plants are sessile organisms. As such, the only alternative to a rapidly changing environment is rapid adaptation. This book will focus on all these new and exciting aspects of plant biology.

From Sensory Plant Biology to Active Plant Behavior

Plant-Environment Interactions

Dieter Volkmann

Plant neurobiology is a newly emerging field of plant sciences. It covers signalling and communication at all levels of biological organization – from molecules up to ecological communities. In this book, plants are presented as intelligent and social organisms with complex forms of communication and information processing. Authors from diverse backgrounds such as molecular and cellular biology, electrophysiology, as well as ecology treat the most important aspects of plant communication, including the plant immune system, abilities of plants to recognize self, signal transduction, receptors, plant neurotransmitters and plant neurophysiology. Further, plants are able to recognize the identity of herbivores and organize the defence responses accordingly. The similarities in animal and plant neuronal/immune systems are discussed too. All these hidden aspects of plant life and behaviour will stimulate further intense investigations in order to understand the communicative plants in their whole complexity.

Neuronal Aspects of Plant Life

Communication in Plants

Guenther Witzany

Plants are sessile, highly sensitive organisms that actively compete for environmental resources both above and below the ground. They assess their surroundings, estimate how much energy they need for particular goals, and then realise the optimum variant. They take measures to control certain environmental resources. They perceive themselves and can distinguish between ‘self’ and ‘non-self’. They process and evaluate information and then modify their behaviour accordingly. These highly diverse competences are made possible by parallel sign(alling)-mediated communication processes within the plant body (intraorganismic), between the same, related and different species (interorganismic), and between plants and non-plant organisms (transorganismic). Intraorganismic communication involves sign-mediated interactions within cells (intracellular) and between cells (intercellular). This is crucial in coordinating growth and development, shape and dynamics. Such communication must function both on the local level and between widely separated plant parts. This allows plants to coordinate appropriate response behaviours in a differentiated manner, depending on their current developmental status and physiological influences. Lastly, this volume documents how plant ecosphere inhabitants communicate with each other to coordinate their behavioural patterns, as well as the role of viruses in these highly dynamic interactional networks.

Biocommunication of Plants

Vaidurya Pratap Sahi

This book discusses central concepts and theories in cell biology from the ancient past to the 21st century, based on the premise that understanding the works of scientists like Hooke, Hofmeister, Caspary, Strasburger, Sachs, Schleiden, Schwann, Mendel, Nemec, McClintock, etc. in the context of the latest advances in plant cell biology will help provide valuable new insights. Plants have been an object of study since the roots of the Greek, Chinese and Indian cultures. Since the term “cell” was first coined by Robert Hooke, 350 years ago in Micrographia, the study of plant cell biology has moved ahead at a tremendous pace. The field of cell biology owes its genesis to physics, which through microscopy has been a vital source for piquing scientists’ interest in the biology of the cell. Today, with the technical advances we have made in the field of optics, it is even possible to observe life on a nanoscale. From Hooke’s observations of cells and his inadvertent discovery of the cell wall, we have since moved forward to engineering plants with modified cell walls. Studies on the chloroplast have also gone from Julius von Sachs’ experiments with chloroplast, to using chloroplast engineering to deliver higher crop yields. Similarly, advances in fluorescent microscopy have made it far easier to observe organelles like chloroplast (once studied by Sachs) or actin (observed by Bohumil Nemec). If physics in the form of cell biology has been responsible for one half of this historical development, biochemistry has surely been the other.

Concepts in Cell Biology - History and Evolution

Silvia Perotto

A multiplicity of biotrophic micro-organisms interact with plants in nature, forming symbiotic relationships that range from mutualism to antagonism. Microorganisms that have adopted biotrophy as a lifestyle are able to colonize the plant and often to cross the plant cell boundaries by forming intracellular structures that are the site of nutrient uptake/exchange. To establish themselves within plant tissues, both mutualistic and pathogenic biotrophs need to overcome the plant defense response through an exchange of molecular signals. Our knowledge of the nature of these signals and their function in the interaction has rapidly increased over the last few years. This volume focuses on the genetic, molecular and cellular components involved in the communication between partners of well-known symbioses, but also reports on the advances for less studied systems.

Signaling and Communication in Plant Symbiosis

Peter W. Barlow

he biological sciences are dominated by the idea that cells are the functionally autonomous, physically separated, discrete units of life. TThis concept was propounded in the 19th century by discoveries of the cellular structuring of both plants and animals. Moreover, the ap parent autonomy of unicellular eukaryotes, as well as the cellular basis of the mammalian brain (an organ whose anatomy for a long while defied attempts to validate the idea of the cellular nature of its neurons), seemed to provide the final conclusive evidence for the completeness of *cell theory', a theory which has persisted in an almost dogmatic form up to the present day. However, it is very obvious that there are numerous observations which indicate that it is not the cells which serve as the basic units of biological life but that this property falls to some other, subcellular assemblage. To deal with this intricate problem concerning the fundamental unit of living matter, we proposed the so-called Cell Body concept which, in fact, devel ops an exceedingly original idea proposed by Julius Sachs at the end of the 19th century. In the case of eukaryotic cells, DNA-enriched nuclei are intimately associated with a microtubular cytoskeleton. In this configuration—as a Cell Body—these two items comprise the fundamental functional and struc tural unit of eukaryotic living matter. The Cell Body seems to be inherent to all cells in all organisms.

František Baluška

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