However, there is evidence that many plants have smart cells, since they react to external stimulations such as gravity or light. There is an increasing number of studies are trying to clarify what kind of intelligence plants have and what their mechanism is. In the Science Dissemination Blog of Veterinaria Digital, we mentioned some of these topics in posts Dissemination 93rd and Dissemination 94th.

New information, from the Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Vienna, Austria, indicate that Arabidopsis thaliana, a cruciferous commonly used in genetic research, uses membrane proteins to detect external changes and has presented a map of a network (called APEX) composed of 200 proteins, mostly belonging to the kinase type, which enables them to capture the reality of the environment, such as:

(1) Temperature increase of the environment

(2) Chemical signs of growth hormones

(3) Presence of proteins from pathogenic microorganisms

Once alerted, this network of proteins, A. thaliana initiates its intercellular response in terms of external challenge.

Given the short life cycle of A. thaliana we can conclude, in this Scientist Dissemination Blog, that there are metagenetic mechanisms, previously established in its genetic code, that allow it to react to external stimulations potentially dangerous for the plant (temperature, chemical contaminants and pathogens).