High frequency (900 MHz) low amplitude (5 V m−1) electromagnetic field: a genuine environmental stimulus that affects transcription, translation, calcium and energy charge in tomato (original) (raw)
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Electromagnetic fields (900 MHz) evoke consistent molecular responses in tomato plants
Physiologia Plantarum, 2006
Although the effects of high-frequency electromagnetic fields on biological systems have been studied frequently, unequivocal results have rarely been obtained, primarily because suitably controlled experiments could not be performed. In the present work, tomato plants were exposed to a homogeneous and isotropic field (900 MHz) using a mode stirred reverberation chamber, and the stress-related transcripts (calmodulin, protease inhibitor and chloroplast mRNA-binding protein) were assayed by real-time quantitative PCR. Exposure to an electromagnetic field induced a biphasic response, in which the levels of all three transcripts increased four-to six-fold 15 min after the end of electromagnetic stimulation, dropped to close to initial levels by 30 min, and then increased again at 60 min. We deliberately focused on the very early molecular responses to high-frequency electromagnetic fields in order to minimize secondary effects.
Plant, Cell & Environment, 2007
Exposing all of a wild-type tomato plant to electromagnetic radiation evoked rapid and substantial accumulation of basic leucine-zipper transcription factor (bZIP) mRNA in the terminal leaf (#4) with kinetics very similar to that seen in response to wounding, while in the abscisic acid (ABA) mutant (Sitiens), the response was more rapid, but transient. Submitting just the oldest leaf (#1) of a wild-type plant to irradiation evoked bZIP mRNA accumulation both locally in the exposed leaf and systemically in the unexposed (distant) leaf #4, although systemic accumulation was delayed somewhat. Accumulation of Pin2 mRNA was less than bZIP in both the exposed and distant leaves in wild type, but there was no delay in the systemic response. In Sitiens, bZIP mRNA accumulation was far less than in wild type in both local and distant leaves, while Pin2 mRNA accumulation was stronger in the exposed leaf, but totally prevented in the systemic leaf. In the jasmonic acid (JA) mutant (JL-5) and in wild-type plants treated with the ABA biosynthesis inhibitor, naproxen, responses were similar to those in the ABA mutant, while treatment of the exposed leaf with calcium antagonists totally abolished both local and systemic increases in bZIP transcript accumulation.
Plant signaling & behavior, 2008
In parallel to evoking the accumulation of stress-related transcripts, exposure to low level 900 MHz EMF affected the levels of ATP, the main energy molecule of the cell. Its concentration dropped rapidly (27% after 30 min) in response to EMF exposure, along with a 18% decrease in the adenylate energy charge (AEC), a good marker of cell energy status. One could interpret this decrease in ATP and AEC in a classical way, i.e., as the result of an increase in cellular energy usage, but recent work brings exciting new insights in pointing out a signalling function for ATP, especially in the stress physiology context where it could trigger both reactive oxygen species and calcium movement (this latter being involved in plant responses to EMF exposure). In this addendum, we discuss our results within this new perspective for ATP function.
Int. J. Sustain. Crop Prod. 4(6):14-16 , 2009
A lot of researches have been done by many years to analyze the effect of extremely low frequency (ELF) Electromagnetic fields (EMF) on human being, animals and plants. There are a lot of sources that can create ELF EMF such as power transmission and distribution lines house hold appliances and so on. This paper analyzes the comparison of the instrumentation for the production of Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) of cellular and power frequencies of 50Hz. To see how Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs) affect the plant physiology, the instrumentation is essential for the experiment. The experiment was conducted in the Plant Physiology Labrotary, Department of Bio- Technology and Electronics Laboratory, Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, University of Development Alternative (UODA) in collaboration with the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, UODA, Bangladesh during the period of 2008-2009.