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Letters

Plant neurobiology: no brain, no gain?

Amedeo Alpi1, Nikolaus Amrhein2, Adam Bertl3, Michael R. Blatt4,Eduardo Blumwald5, Felice Cervone6,Jack Dainty7, Maria Ida DeMichelis8,

Emanuel Epstein

9

, Arthur W.Galston

10

, Mary HelenM. Goldsmith

10

,Chris Hawes11, Rudiger Hell12, Alistair Hetherington13, Herman Hofte14,Gerd Juergens15, Chris J. Leaver16, Anna Moroni17, Angus Murphy18,Karl Oparka19, Pierdomenico Perata20, Hartmut Quader21, Thomas Rausch12,Christophe Ritzenthaler22, AlbertoRivetta23, David G.Robinson24, Dale Sanders25,Ben Scheres26, Karin Schumacher27, Herve Sentenac28, CliffordL.Slayman23,Carlo Soave29, ChrisSomerville30, Lincoln Taiz31, Gerhard Thiel32

and Richard Wagner33

1 Dipartimento di Biologia Delle Piante Agrarie, Universita Degli Studi di Pisa, Via Mariscoglio 34, 56124 Pisa, Italy2 Institut fu r Pflanzenwissenschaften, ETHZ Universita tsstrasse 2, Zu rich CH-8092, Switzerland3 Botany 1, University of Karlsruhe, Kaiserstrasse 12, Karlsruhe 76128, Germany4

Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biophysics, IBLS Bower Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK5 Department of Plant Sciences Mail Stop 5, University of California, Davis, 1 Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616, USA6 Dipartimento di Biologia Vegetale, Universita di Roma La Sapienza, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 00185 Roma, Italy7 University of Toronto, Department of Botany, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3B2, Canada8 Dipartimento di Biologia L. Gorini, Universita di Milano, Via G. de Celoria 26, 20133 Milano, Italy9 Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, Soils and Biogeochemistry, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave.,

Davis, CA 95616-8627, USA10 Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, PO Box 208103, New Haven, CT 06520-8103, USA11 School of Life Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK12 Heidelberg Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 360, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany13 School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol, BS8 1UG, UK14 Laboratoire de Biologie Cellulaire, Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin, INRA, Route de Saint-Cyr, 78026 Versailles Cedex, France15 Entwicklungsgenetik, ZMBP Center of Plant Molecular Biology, Universita t Tu bingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 3, D-72076

Tu bingen, Germany16 Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3RB, UK17 Dipartimento di Biologia, Universita Degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milano, Italy18 Department of Horticulture, Purdue University, 625 Agriculture Mall Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA19 Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Kings Buildings, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JH, UK20 Plant and Crop Physiology Laboratory, SantAnna School of Advanced Studies, Piazza Martiri Della Liberta 33, 56127 Pisa, Italy21 Universita t Hamburg, Biozentrum Klein Flottbek, Ohnhorst-Str. 18, D-22609 Hamburg, Germany22 CNRS Institut de Biologie Moleculaire des Plantes, 12, Rue du General Zimmer, 67084 Strasbourg, Cedex, France23 Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale School of Medicine, Yale University, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven,

CT, USA24 Heidelberger Institut fu r Pflanzenwissenschaften, Abteilung Zellbiologie, Im Neuenheimer Feld 230, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany25 Department of Biology, Area 6, University of York, PO Box 373, York, YO10 5YW, UK26 Department of Molecular Genetics, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands27 ZMBP-Pflanzenphysiologie, Universita t Tu bingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 1, D-72076 Tu bingen, Germany28 Biochemie et Physiologie Vegetales, Ecole National Superieure Agronomique, INRA, 34060 Montpellier Cedex, France29 Dipartimento di Biologia, Sezione di Fisiologia e Biochimica Delle Piante, Universita di Milano, Via Celoria 26, 20133 Milano, Italy30

Carnegie Institution, 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA 94305-4101, USA31 Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Sinsheimer Laboratories, University of California Santa Cruz,Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA32 Institute of Botany, TU-Darmstadt, Schnittspahnstr. 3-5, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany33 Fachbereich Biologie/Chemie, Universita t Osnabru ck, Barbarastrasse 11, D-49069 Osnabru ck, Germany

The past three years have witnessed the birth and

propagation of a provocative idea in the plant sciences.

Its proponents have suggested that higher plants have

nerves, synapses, the equivalent of a brain localized

somewhere in the roots, and an intelligence. The idea

has attracted a number of adherents, to the extent that

meetings have now been held in different host countries

to address the topic, and an international society devoted

to plant neurobiology has been founded. We are con-

cerned with the rationale behind this concept. We

maintain that plant neurobiology does not add to our

Update TRENDS in Plant Science Vol.12 No.4

Corresponding author: Robinson, D.G. (david.robinson@urz.uni-heidelberg.de).

Available online 23 March 2007.

www.sciencedirect.com 1360-1385/$ see front matter 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2007.03.002

mailto:david.robinson@urz.uni-heidelberg.dehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2007.03.002http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2007.03.002http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2007.03.002mailto:david.robinson@urz.uni-heidelberg.de

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