Like Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors. Scientists have filmed a spooky video of a panting plant

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have photographed and posted a spooky video of a plant panting.

Although the video looks like footage from the 1986 rock-horror comedy Little Shop of Horrors, it’s actually a macro shot of a plant’s response to changes in carbon dioxide and humidity levels.

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During the study, the scientists photographed close-ups of individual stomata—the moment the pores in the epidermis of leaves open and close, actually very reminiscent of breathing.

However, according to Jared Dashoff, spokesperson for the National Science Foundation (NSF), this video is valuable not only because it arouses the interest of others, but also because it will be very helpful to know how plants “noise” to changes in oxygen and moisture levels. useful scientists. Researchers believe that understanding these processes will allow scientists to regulate these signals and grow crops that are more resilient to climate change.

Response to change is critical to plant growth and is also responsible for a plant’s water use efficiency, according to Julian Schroeder, lead of the new study. This work is crucial as we are seeing increasing climate change in recent times, including increased drought and rising temperatures.

The scientists also note that these studies will allow scientists to study and affect the balance between carbon dioxide uptake from stomata and water vapor loss in the future. The point is that if plants, especially crops grown for food, do not find this balance, they will simply wilt and become useless.

Plant leaves have thousands of small openings called stomata. The closing pores located on the sides of the stomatal pore act as a gate – they open their central pore and then close to drink carbon dioxide. After the “sip”, the proteins signal the cells to relax and bury the stomata.

It is known that when the plant senses that the carbon dioxide level is rising, the second protein blocks the first protein and does not allow the stomata to open and close. According to Schroeder, the scientists found during the study that the so-called CO2 sensor in plants consists of two proteins.

Scientists have found that low carbon dioxide environments cause plants to keep their stomata open longer to obtain the CO2 needed for photosynthesis. At this point, the HT1 protein activates an enzyme that causes the guard cells to swell and keep the stomata open. But in the process, the inside of the plant becomes vulnerable – it is exposed to the elements and loses water. As a result, the plant can simply dry out – so it is very important to keep the balance.

Note that scientists have already applied for a patent and are currently exploring ways to turn their discoveries into tools for growers and farmers.

Earlier, Focus wrote that scientists believe plants can think and make decisions.