A Library of Electrophysiological Responses in Plants - A Model of Transversal Education and Open Science

Electrophysiology in plants is understudied, and, moreover, an ideal model for student inclusion at all levels of education. Here we report on an investigation in "open science", whereby scientists worked with students and faculty from Chile, Germany, Serbia, South Korea, and the USA. The students recorded the electrophysiological signals of >15 plants in response to a flame or tactile stimulus applied to the leaves. We observed that approximately 60% of the plants studied showed an electrophysiological response with a delay of [~]3-6 seconds after stimulus presentation. In preliminary conduction velocity experiments, we verified that observed signals are indeed biological in origin, with information transmission speeds of [~]2-9 mm/s. Such easily replicable experiments can serve to include more investigators and students in contributing to our understanding of plant electrophysiology.