Scientific interest in plant movements, sensitivity, and possible intelligence

has been continuously documented since the late 1800's. Based on the understanding of physiological mechanisms, the science of plant sensory biology has gained momentum with application of molecular methods, genomic approaches, and biochemical discoveries. At the same time, the preponderance of research activity focused at these molecular levels has distracted attention from an integrated understanding of plants as organisms. The time is right for encouraging discussions and sharing of data across levels of inquiry, from genomics to cell function to ecology.The nascent field of Plant Neurobiology has been formed based on recognition that neurobiology of humans is a most rapidly breaking field in biology today, and the reality that much of the biochemistry, cell biology and electrophysiology known in classical neurobiology exists as well in plants.

Plant Neurobiology

not just another attempt to revive plant electrophysiology in a new cover - it is rather the very first time when all the plant sciences will meet together to study diverse aspects of signalling and communication at all levels of plant organization, starting from single molecules and ending at ecological communities. Twentieth-century biology was dominated by attempts to reduce extremely complex biological phenomena to the actions of single molecules. While this process will continue in future, we also need to integrate the avalanche of obtained data together using system-based approaches. Plant Neurobiology will cover, all plant sciences under one umbrella from the perspective of signaling and communication at all levels of biological organization. Plant Neurobiology will interlink together molecular biology with physiology, and behavior of individual organisms, up to the system analysis of whole plant societies and ecosystems. This integrative view will allow our understanding of communicative plants in their whole complexity.

Our viewing of plants

is changing dramatically away from passive entities being merely subject to environmental forces and organisms that are designed solely for accumulation of photosynthate. In contrast, plants emerge as dynamic and highly sensitive organisms that actively and competitively forage for limited resources, both above and below ground, organisms that accurately compute their circumstances, use sophisticated cost benefit analysis, and that take defined actions to mitigate and control diverse environmental insults. Moreover, plants are also capable of a refined recognition of self and non-self and are territorial in behavior. This new view sees plants as information processing organisms with complex communication throughout the individual plant. Plants 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 that operating in animals.

Plants are sessile organisms

Due to this lifestyle, the only alternative to rapidly changing environment is rapid adaptation. Therefore, plants have developed a very robust signaling apparatus. Signaling in plants encompasses both chemical and physical communication pathways. The chemical communication is based either on vesicular trafficking pathways, as accomplished also across neuronal synapses in brains, or through direct cell-cell communication via cell-cell channels known as plasmodesmata. Moreover, there are numerous signal molecules generated within cell walls and also diffusible signals, such as NO, ROS and ethylene, penetrating cells from exocellular space. On the other hand, physical communication is based on electrical, hydraulic, and mechanical signals. Besides interaction with the environment, plants interact with other communicative systems such as other plants, fungi, nematodes, bacteria, viruses, insects, and predatory animals.