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Marine plants polarizing remote eggs via luminescence
Lionel F Jaffe
| Zygotes of the marine alga Fucus can be polarized by many environmental
vectors. These include those created by pieces of all of the
intertidal marine plants tested. At distances of up to 5-10 mm away
from such pieces, Fucus zygotes form their initial outgrowths or
germinate towards them. Earlier papers had inferred that this
so-called 'thallus effect' is mediated by diffusing molecules. The
present reinvestigation indicates that the thallus effect is exerted
by influences that can go through glass barriers. This
suggests action via luminescence. This luminescence may come from
bacteria growing in biofilms on the similar surfaces of these
otherwise unrelated source plants. Moreover, this directive
luminescence is inferred to lie at wavelengths in the red or longer
and may take the form of more or less coherent biophotons.
The only other convincing evidence that certain
directive cell interactions are mediated by luminescence lies in the
work of Guenter Albrecht-Buehler at Northwestern University. His studies of the directional responses of cultured mammalian cells show that the effective luminescence lies in
the far-red or near infrared...and is pulsating. [See
Albrecht-Buehler, G. J. Cell Biol. 1991, 114: 493-502; PNAS 1992,
89: 8288-8292; Cell Motil. Cytoskel. 1994; 27: 262-271; same place,
1998; 40: 183-192.]
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Submitted: 10-Jan-106
The contents of this page are the sole responsibility of the person
named below.
| Lionel F Jaffe |
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| Marine Biological Laboratory |
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| Woods Hole, MA |
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