Phyclops Project - We Listen To Plants

Here is a much better visualization of #passiflora activity over the course of four days (timestamps not shown, dotted vertical lines are midnight). Red and blue indicate times with significant transport or signalling activity. Upper and lower half correspond to up and down transport.

I am experimenting with a new way to visualize #passiflora electrical activity in a 2D map(top), recorded over several days, some of which includes responses to spraying (not in this one though)

What is the same in both channels however is the general shape of the electrical signal.

The vertical axis on all plots is milliVolt (mV). The electrodes for each channel (ch1 left and ch2 right) are positioned slightly apart. As a result the voltage differentials shown here are never exactly the same since they penetrate the stem a different locations, but that is ok.

More examples of what the #passiflora response to spraying with water looks like, when the electrical signal is recorded with my device and my microarray electrodes. It's always two channels recording the same event, so here I show four events.

Fantastic work. In my case, my microelectrode array sitting on one of the trap lobes would be picking up the voltage spikes generated by the activation of the mechanosensitive channel, visualized as green fluorsecense here. Advantage: you don't have to use a genentically modified plant.

I have repeated this 'spray experiment' more than 15 times. Every time an easily identifiable short term trend/spike appears after the spraying in both channels. So this is likely the electrical component of a system-wide signal saying "Hey, It's raining, lets close stomata")

We know that plants react to rain and specifically to any spray of water droplets. This reaction has been reliably measured (gene expression changes). My electrophy. electrodes also pick up a reaction when I spray the passiflora with water (electrodes shielded so it's a true plant Ca2+/ROS signal).

2D histogram of stable, speed and direction estimates for #Avocado, from two different devices on the same plant. Black lines&circles indicate stable values across both devices (good). Ideally this flip-flop should show as little change as possible. Dark areas on the left appear most stable.

I forgot that there is a fourth factor that will contribute to my measurements: Propagating Ca2+/ROS waves.
So now we have:

Xylem ion fluxes (up), i.e. K+
Phloem ion fluxes (down), i.e. K+
Electrical signals conducted by phloem bundles (up or down)
Ca2+/ROS signals in phloem bundles (up or down)

This is four times the same histogram, just focused on a different speed range each time.

United we stand: Plants that physically touch each other are more resilient to stress Plants use sophisticated signaling networks to communicate with each other. This process is thought to support the overall health and resilience of plant communities, but could also reflect eavesdropp...

United we stand: Plants that physically touch each other are more resilient to stress #plantscience #biology #plants

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Yellow colored dotted lines indicate speed measurement resolution. Higher line density means higher resolution (=better)

At what speed(s) do #ions and electrical signals travel through a #plant stem, in this case #avocado?
I measured this with the device pictured in the previous post. Here I show a histogram (4 days of data). Horizontal axis mm/sec, (-) down, (+) up direction. Notice that speeds cluster! Nice.

... and it even looks tasty :)

What am I using to make these high precision voltage recordings on #plants ? An electrochemistry workstation worth 25.000 EUR?

No, I use a custom designed and manufactured battery driven device that I call "Phyclops One". You can buy it for about 60 EUR.

phyclops.com/devices/2025...

Comparing two (ion flow) Speed and Direction (mm/sec) profiles for #avocado for two consecutive sessions, while strong shoot growth is observable.

We see a substantial increase in transport/signalling activit in the 2nd session. Possible explanations: +sunlight and + leaf area.

My #avocado, launching a massive burst of shoot growth.

Right, so now
I just have to understand
what is going on here.

(whistles, looks up, then down and grins, then decides to open a bottle of beer instead)

#biology #plantscience #plants

Speed and direction estimates in #avocado after doing even more refining. Notice that yellow (down transport, phloem) appears to follow periods of blue (up transport, xylem). Makes sense.Red and black are speeds so high that they likely indicate electrical signalling. #biology #plants #plantscience

The first two blue (up) periods coincide with the beginning of direct afternoon sunlight for this #avocado, so transpiration goes from moderate to maximum, upward water flow increases and with it the upward xylem ion flow. This change is detected here as a blue bar. The 3rd blue happens at night?

Link to article?

As opposed to #passiflora where the milliVolt (mV) readings are acquired by microneedles, in #avocado normally sized needles are used and the distance between them is larger. Direction and speed estimates are likely less accurate bc multiple xylem/phloem bundles are being measured. #plantscience

I am refining my speed and direction estimates for electrical signals + ion flow in #avocado. Top and bottom graphs show raw voltage readings in mV. Middle shows speed estimates in mm/sec; blue: up transport, yellow: down transport. If |speed| > 3 mm/sec it is prob. an electric signaling event.

The array of #microneedles I use for measurements penetrates the #passiflora stem into the xylem and phloem of a single (vertical) bundle. This is important because individual bundles, even if next to each other, can differ dramatically in their behaviour. (Image from bio.libretexts.org )

Thank you :) I too hope that they don't mind. Actually, it is known that plant stress in general changes electrical signalling pattern. I just haven't checked if I am seeing stress patterns in this passiflora or not.

HI there. Electrical signalling and of course ion flows can tell you a lot about what is going on in the plant, i.e. whether it is underwatered, if it is reacting to (leaf or root) damage and so on. It is just tricky to declutter the signals to find out what they mean. That is what I am trying here.

Great stuff

Ion flow, speed and direction estimates on #passiflora for different timescales. Vertical axis mm/sec, + up, - down. Horizontal axis time. Speeds > -0.2 indicate phloem(down) flow, but why would they be happening at night? Speed < -0.4 might be a fast electrical signal conducted through phloem.

In the top left and right plots we see two cross-correlation peaks. They coincide with direct, late afternoon sunlight. Since the correlation maxima are located in the upper plane (up transport) they likely correspond to xylem ion flow at around 0.1 mm/sec, estimated from the lag. #passiflora

Best way to start your day. Have you noticed that the leaf movement anticipates the start of the light phase? #plants #biology