Imagine if humans could ‘talk’ to plants and warn them of approaching pest attacks or extreme weather.
A team of plant scientists at the Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) would like to turn this science fiction into reality using light-based messaging to ‘talk’ to plants.
Early lab experiments with tobacco (Nicotiana benthamiana) have demonstrated that they can activate the plant's natural defence mechanism (immune response) using light as a stimulus (messenger).
Light serves as a universal means of daily human communication, for example the signalling at traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, or the open-closed status of a shop.
Read more at University of Cambridge
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