Proposed Symposium Title: PLANT ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY: TECHNIQUES AND TOOLS
Abstract: Electrochemical phenomena in plants have attracted researchers since the eighteenth century (Bertholon, 1783; Burdon-Sanderson, 1873; Darwin, 1875; Lemström, 1904; Bose, 1926); however, only in the last decade numerous papers related to plant electrophysiology have been published (for a comprehensive review on the subject see Volkov´s book “Plant Electrophysiology, Theory and Methods”, 2006). Detection of electrical potentials in plants indicates that electrical signaling is a major system to transmit information over long distances throughout its organs. Electrophysiological studies in plants contribute to our knowledge of the living world by revealing important similarities and crucial differences between plants and animals. The existence of electrophysiological mechanisms for information perception, transmission and processing between different plant organs and tissues, allowing the expression of fast and accurate physiological reactions to specific biotic or abiotic stimuli, is expressed by means of real-time detectable action (APs) and variation (VPs) potentials (Datta & Palit, 2004; Gil et al., 2008; Oyarce & Gurovich, 2010; Volkov et al., 2009; Wang et al., 2009). For example, pollen tube growth requires a Ca2+ gradient, with elevated levels of cytosolic Ca2+ at the growing tip. This gradient’s magnitude oscillates with growth oscillation but is always maintained. Ca2+ influx into the growing tip is necessary, and its magnitude also oscillates with growth. Dutta and Robinson (2004) have identified and characterized stretch-activated Ca2+ channels from Lilium longiflorum pollen grain and tube tip protoplasts. The channels were localized to a small region of the grain protoplasts associated with the site of tube germination. In addition, they also find a stretch-activated K+ channels as well as a spontaneous K+ channel distributed over the entire grain surface, but neither was present at the germination site or at the tip.
Speaker 1: Prof. Dr. Rainer Hedrich
Department of Molecular Plant-Physiology and Biophysics - Botany I
University of Wuerzburg
Biocentre, Julius-von-Sachs-Institut for Biosciences
Department of Molecular Plant-Physiology and Biophysics - Botany I
Julius-von-Sachs-Platz 2
97082 Wuerzburg
Germany
hedrich@botanik.uni-wuerzburg.de
Voltage-dependent anion channels in the plasma membrane of guard cells involved in stomatal movement.
Speaker 2: Dr. Gerald Schoenknecht
Adjunct Professor
Dept. of Plant Biology, Ecology, and Evolution
301 Physical Sciences, Stillwater, OK 74078-3013, USA
gerald.schoenknecht@okstate.edu
The molecular mechanisms of volatage-dependent gating of the vacuolar cation channel TPC1.
Speaker 3: Sergey Shabala
School of Agricultural Science, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 54, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
Sergey.Shabala@utas.edu.au
Non-Invasive Microelectrode Ion Flux Measurements In Plant Stress Physiology
Topics (Up to three): Plant Biotechnology
Topic 2: Physiology
Topic 3: Ecophysiology
Justification: Neher and Sakmann developed the patch clamp technique which enables measurement of ionic currents through channels cell membrane of living cells, and characterized their functional properties (Nobel P&M,1991). Agre and MacKinnon (Nobel Chemistry, 2003) for discoveries concerning aquaporin channels on cell membranes. Prof. Ardem Patapoutian found mechano-sensitive ion channels activated by mechanical force (Nobel in M&P, 2021). These ion channels have great similarities with Ca+ channels in pollen tube membrane identified by Dutta and Robinson in 2004. In view of these important discoveries it is necessary to organize a symposium during XX IBC in 2024 at Madrid, Spain.
