Summary of today’s CUBE Chatshaala Discussion:-
The discussion started with finding out the possible links of the circadian rhythm of Phyllanthus plants with Arabidopsis plants.
But we also need to understand how circadian rhythm in Phyllanthus works!!
Theertha from Kerela found a Research paper by two Scientists Yoko Nakamura and Minoru Ueda from Department of Chemistry of Tohoku University, Japan that tells about the Chemical Basis of such nyctinastic Movements in plants leaf.Chemical Basis of Plant Leaf Movement | Plant and Cell Physiology | Oxford Academic We discussed this paper a few days back too in Chatshaala but didn’t complete it.
Why at all do some plants shows opening and closing behavior? What is the advantage behind such behavior? Like we discussed that touch-me-not plant shows the closing of leaves when it is touched because their touch is sensed and water from the leaf is removed through some molecular mechanisms and the leaf closes. Now to discuss the mechanism of Circadian rhythm we tried to understand the 2017 Physiology and Medicine Noble prize on the discovery of the molecular mechanism behind the circadian rhythm. We came to know that this study of Circadian rhythm in plants is not of This Decade of last decade but it’s centuries old. It dates back to the 18th century.So we discussed various scientists like Newton, Mendel, Darwin, T.H.Morgan, and V.Ramakrishnan and with work in different centuries.
Questions that still stands out:-
Why do some plants at all show nyctinastic behavior? What are the physiological or evolutionary benefits of doing so?
What kind of Circadian rhythm do Arabidopsis plants show?
Closing of leaf’s behavior is just in some plants so if we consider all plants what else could be the behavior or changes(internal or external) condition of plants when they ‘sleep’?
References shared in discussion:
The Arabidopsis Circadian System - PMC).