生物谷报道:最新一期英国《新科学家》周刊刊登一份研究报告说,韩国科学家发现植物对声音敏感,也许今后人们可以利用声波促进植物开花或成熟。
韩国水原市国家农业生物技术研究院的科学家根据植物对光和触摸作出反应的特性,提出大胆假设:植物也许对声音有反应。
研究小组在实验室中利用水稻开展实验。他们给水稻播放14首古典乐曲,但水稻基因对这些音乐没有任何反应。科学家改为以特殊频率播放一些声音,结果水稻中两种基因“rbcS”和“Ald”在125至250赫兹的声波中变得更为活跃,而在50赫兹以下的声波中变得更为不活跃。
研究人员说,水稻中的“rbcS”和“Ald”基因已经被证明对光有反应。因此,研究人员在黑暗中对水稻开展了相同声音实验,结果相同。
科学家希望今后能够通过这项发现利用声音来控制植物生长。(援引新华网)
原始出处:
New Scientist
Plant genes switched on by sound waves
30 August 2007 Andy Coghlan Magazine issue 2619
CAN plants hear? They all respond to light, which affects how they optimise growth and survival. Plants also have a sense of touch, allowing them to stiffen in response to wind, and a "taste" for nutrients. But whether they respond to sound is a mystery.
Now Mi-Jeong Jeong of the National Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology in Suwon, South Korea, and colleagues claim to have identified two genes in rice that respond to sound waves. They also say that the promoter of one of the sound-sensitive genes could be attached to other genes to make them respond to sound too.
The findings follow a host of similar, but unsubstantiated, claims that plants respond to sound. If the researchers are correct, they say their discovery could enable farmers to switch specific crop genes on and off, such as ones for flowering, by blasting sound into the fields. That might be cheaper ...