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CELL BIOLOGY AND SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION

Biologically Closed Electrical Circuits in Venus Flytrap^[OA]

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Oakwood University, Huntsville, Alabama 35896 (A.G.V., H.C.); and Department of Neurology, University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390–8813 (V.S.M.)

The Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula Ellis) is a marvel of plant electrical, mechanical, and biochemical engineering. The rapid closure of the Venus flytrap upper leaf in about 0.1 s is one of the fastest movements in the plant kingdom. We found earlier that the electrical stimulus between a midrib and a lobe closes the Venus flytrap upper leaf without mechanical stimulation of trigger hairs. The Venus flytrap can accumulate small subthreshold charges and, when the threshold value is reached, the trap closes. Here, we investigated the electrical properties of the upper leaf of the Venus flytrap and proposed the equivalent electrical circuit in agreement with the experimental data.

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www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.108.134536

^* Corresponding author; e-mail agvolkov{at}yahoo.com.

Received January 9, 2009; accepted February 8, 2009; published February 11, 2009.

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