Scientists wondered if it was possible to study human mental illness on plants.In the course of the new
"A few years ago, I started getting interested in the idea that every living organism should have some kind of homology, a similarity in how they lookor what they're doing," said Tamas Horvath, senior authorinvestigations.
As he began to study behavior and mitochondria, the specialized structures inside cells that produce energy, he kept thinking about this idea. Scientists hypothesized that if you change mitochondrial genes in animals and see what changes in their behavior, and then try the same with similar genes in plants, you can eventually better understand human behavior. studying plants. The new work has brought scientists closer to creating a "plant with schizophrenia."
“If such a model is developed, thenalternative species, not just mammals, with which to explore aspects of human behavior,” explains the scientist. He noted that the goal of comparative medicine is to see how non-human models can be used to study the human condition.
For a new study, Tamas Horvath and hiscolleagues studied the mitochondrial gene (Friendly Mitochondria, or FMT), which was found in a small flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana. It turned out to be very similar to the Clustered mitochondria homolog, or CLUH gene found in mice.
Mitochondria regulate important functions, such as metabolism, and haveIn both plants and humans, dysfunctional mitochondria canaffect the development and lead to diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, and schizophrenia in humans.
For the study, the researchers compared typical plants, plants without FMT, and plants with overactive FMT to better understand the role of the gene. It turned out that his behavior affectson many important characteristics of the plant, including seed germination, root length, flowering time, and growthLeaves.
They also looked at two important plant behaviors.
The first was the response to salt stress.When there is too much of it in the environment, plants tend to stopgermination, delay flowering and disturb the sprouts.It turns out that FMT is crucial for these salt-avoidance behaviors .
The second type of plant behavior is known as hyponastic behavior —movements based on circadian rhythms."Circadian rhythms have a huge impact on plants because light is the most important source of energy for them," Horvath said.
The hyponastic behavior for Arabidopsis is the way the leaves move throughout the day and night.During the day, they are flatter and more exposed to the sun.Scientists have found that FMT also plays a role in thean important role in this behavior by regulating the movement of leaves.
To link this to mammals, the researchers assessed the behavior of different mice by comparing typical individuals with those with reduced CLUH, a gene very similar to FMT.Using a behavioral test in which mice are placed in an open environment, they noticed that those that had fewer CLUHs were slower and covered shorter distances than their counterparts.
“The mice had the same reaction as the plants,with altered speed and general motor activity,” Horvath said. “This is rudimentary, but it still indicates that there are mitochondrial mechanisms that decipher similar functions in plants and animals.” While there's still a lot of work to be done, it's an exciting first step, he said. Plants such as Arabidopsis and mammals share several similar genes and cellular processes, not just FMT and CLUH.
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