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Notes: Plantlets of Bidens pilosus L. “remembered” a symmetry-breaking signal (the puncturing of one of the cotyledons), but expressed it only after being made permissive (by removing the apex). The mean value of the memorization index was 0.52. There was a labile short-term and a well-fixed long-term memory. The memorization process was dependent on the number of stimuli, and on the mineral status of the plant.

Notes: Abstract A mechanism involving transport, storage and retrieval of a symmetry-breaking message controls the relative growth rate of the cotyledonary buds of plantlets of Bidens pilosa L. The asymmetry was induced by administering a few needle pricks to one cotyledon of each plant. The storage of the symmetry-breaking message was independent of the number of pricks (“all or nothing” process) and irreversible. However, various treatments could render the plants either able to retrieve the stored symmetry-breaking message (in which case, the bud opposite to the pricked cotyledon began to elongate statistically sooner than the one associated with the stimulated cotyledon) or not (both buds then had an equal chance to be the first to start to grow). The retrieval process was also associated with a temporal oscillation. At the level of the whole plants, bud growth was observed only after the removal of apical dominance, and its degree of asymmetry was expressed by use of a parameter g ranging from zero (symmetrical case) to ± 1 (full asymmetry in favor of one of the cotyledonary buds). The highest g-values observed in the present contribution were of the order of 0.5. At the cellular level, the pricking of one cotyledon caused a number of cells, which were within the meristem of the bud associated with the pricked cotyledon and were in cell-cycle phases S or G2, to undergo cellular division and then be blocked in phase G1, whereas the cells of the opposite bud were practically unchanged.

Notes: Abstract Plantlets of Bidens pilosus L., considered to be basically symmetrical, can be “lateralized” (A/B) by being administered a “symmetry-breaking” signal such as puncturing one of the plant cotyledons. The induced asymmetry remains latent as long as the plants have not been made “permissive”, i.e. as long as the plant apex is left functioning. When the apex has been removed (plant “decapitation”), the latent asymmetry is expressed by one of the cotyledonary buds (a/b) statistically beginning to elongate before the other. The interval of time between delivering the “symmetry-breaking” signal and making the plant “permissive” is the “memorization-time”, Δt. Memorization can be quantified by using a “precedence index”, q, the values of which range from 0 (no detectable asymmetry with regard to bud growth) to ±1 (bud growth perfectly asymmetric in favour of either bud b or a). Even for memorization times, Δt, up to 14 d, q-values up to 0.4 (or even larger) are observed. Various experimental characteristics (e.g. light, temperature, presence or absence of the root system) but not the plant age can affect the q-values, at the moment when the treatments are performed, at least in the range of 6 to 25 d. Combining several puncturing treatments either increases or decreases the q-values, depending on the nature of these treatments and the time-intervals, δt, between them. Symmetrically removing both cotyledons in the minutes following the puncturing of one of them does not significantly alter the results, which means that the “symmetry-breaking” message is rapidly transported and memorized within the plant. Non-traumatic asymmetrical treatments (droplets of saline solutions, light-gradients) can also act as symmetry-breaking signals and be memorized. Plants other than Bidens are likely to possess similar memorization ability, although the q-values observed up to now have not been very large.

Notes: Abstract In their environment, plants are continuously submitted to natural stimuli such as wind, rain, temperature changes, wounding, etc. These signals induce a cascade of events which lead to metabolic and morphogenetic responses. In this paper the different steps are described and discussed starting from the reception of the signal by a plant organ to the final morphogenetic response. In our laboratory two plants are studied: Bryonia dioica for which rubbing the internode results in reduced elongation and enhanced radial expansion (Boyer et al., 1979) and Bidens pilosa for which the response occurs at distance, hence pricking the cotyledon of a plantlet induces the growth inhibition of both the hypocotyl (Desbiez et al., 1981) and the axillary bud of the pricked cotyledon (Desbiez, 1973). Reception of the signal and transmission of the message. In Bryonia the signal is received by epidermal cells (Boyer & De Jaegher, 1986) while in Bidens they are the cells adjacent to the midrib of the cotyledon which receive the mechanical signal. In both plants the message is transmitted via a wave of electric depolarization (De Jaegher & Boyer, 1989; Desbiez, 1973; Frachisse et al., 1985b). This latter is composed of an action potential associated with a slow wave whose transmission rates are respectively 1cm s−1 and 1 mm s−1. Recent results have shown the involvement of Ca2+ in the triggering of the slow wave and the role of the H+ pump during the slow wave. Transient and fast biochemical responses. An entry of extraceilular Ca2+ into the cells and a transient increase in IP3 occur within seconds following the mechanical stimulus. At the same time, the membrane becomes more fluid, correlated with qualitative changes in phospholipids. The rapid increase in the concentration of peroxidated lipids may be correlated with ethylene biosynthesis which is stimulated after rubbing (Crouzillat et al., 1985; De Jaegher et al., 1987a). Other parameters such as cytoplasmic pH, relative water content, hydric potential, membrane potential and modifications of K+, Mg2+-ATPase and Ca2+-ATPase activities, play a key role in the early responses induced by the traumatisms. Irreversible-biochemical responses. The mechanical stimulus performed on a Bryonia internode induces an acceleration of: i) enzymatic activities related to the lignification (PAL and cell wall peroxydases), ii) esterification of phenolic acids in the cell wall. Consequently the lignification process is accelerated. Storage of the information. After being received by the target cells (axillary bud of hypocotyl) the information can be stored during several days before being expressed. At the level of cotyledonary bud, the first message, previously stored, can be expressed or not by a second treatment (symmetrical prickings, cold temperature ...). Bidens thus behaves as if it was able to “store” and to “retrieve” morphogenetic messages, using a sort of rudimentary memory. The nuclei of the bud cells of the pricked cotyledon show that these cells, initially in G2 phase, divide and then remain in the G1 phase. In Bryonia, calli derived from young stimulated internodes, keep thigmomorphogenetic characteristics during several weeks (high peroxidase and PAL activity, modified isoperoxidase pattern, high content in ACC and lignine). In the last part of this paper the particularity of our plant model which permits a study of the transmission and storage of the message, is underlined. The links between the different steps induced by the stimulus are discussed. Special attention is devoted to second messengers and to the amplification of the message.