Modeling Plant Action Potentials under Photoperiod Stress via Hodgkin-Huxley Dynamics

TL;DR

This paper models plant action potentials during photoperiod stress using Hodgkin-Huxley dynamics, revealing distinct bioelectric responses under natural and artificial light conditions.

Contribution

It introduces a Hodgkin-Huxley based mathematical model that captures plant bioelectric responses during photoperiod transitions, highlighting novel oscillatory phenomena.

Findings

Artificial photoperiods induce coupled light- and dark-induced APs.

Natural light conditions produce only light-induced APs.

The model accurately reproduces observed bioelectric phenomena.

Abstract

Plants exhibit dynamic bioelectric properties that facilitate information transfer across tissues. This study investigates action potentials (APs) in Nicotiana tabacum recorded within a custom-designed growth chamber using a biosignal amplifier and environmental sensors. Consistent light- and dark-induced APs were observed during photoperiod transitions under controlled 12-hour artificial illumination cycles. To understand these bioelectric responses, a mathematical model based on the Hodgkin-Huxley framework is used. Electrophysiological measurements from Solanum lycopersicum revealed that under natural light conditions, only light-induced APs are observed, while light- and dark-induced APs coupled dynamics is exclusively elicited during rapid transitions in artificial photoperiods. These distinct phenomena are characterized as Prolonged Oscillatory Climatic Engagement (POCE) and Nimble Environmental Transition Oscillation (NETO), respectively. The model successfully reproduces the key features in both frameworks while maintaining computational efficiency through voltage-independent rate parameters.