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Introducing Plant Band-Aids: A New Approach to Plant Healing

Have you ever encountered a plant in distress? A novel solution might be at hand in the form of a “plant Band-Aid.”

Recent research highlights that a pure form of cellulose produced by bacteria can function as a bandage for plants, significantly improving their healing and regenerative processes. Published on February 12 in Science Advances, this discovery could have substantial ramifications within the fields of agriculture and plant biology.

Plants possess remarkable regenerative capabilities that allow them to respond to threats, unlike animals that can flee from danger. Previously celebrated for its applications in human medicine—treating wounds and burns due to its biocompatibility and biodegradability—bacterial cellulose has now been shown to further enhance healing in plants as well.

Núria Sánchez Coll, a plant biologist, and her team were initially investigating the efficacy of bacterial cellulose patches embedded with silver nanoparticles to mitigate infections in wounded flora. An unexpected observation arose: the patched wounds healed more effectively and swiftly than untreated ones. “This piqued our interest in the underlying molecular mechanisms,” Sánchez Coll remarked, affiliated with the Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics in Barcelona.

To evaluate the patches’ healing capacities, researchers inflicted minor incisions on the leaves of two model plant species, Nicotiana benthamiana and Arabidopsis thaliana, subsequently applying the cellulose patches to selective wounds. Remarkably, over 80 percent of the treated wounds exhibited complete healing after a week, compared to less than 20 percent in the untreated group. Microscopic evaluations revealed that the tissues in patched wounds appeared healthy, while untreated wounds displayed symptoms of stress and dehydration.

Furthermore, the patches significantly boosted plant regeneration in cloning trials. Asexual reproduction via vegetative propagation is a common method used in both agriculture and research to generate genetically identical offspring from a parent plant. When bacterial cellulose patches were introduced to plant cuttings in petri dishes, the regeneration process accelerated, resulting in quicker development of roots and leaves in comparison to unpatched cuttings. Notably, patches made from cellulose produced by plants did not yield similar benefits.

A chemical examination revealed that the bacterial cellulose contained plant hormones, likely synthesized by the bacteria responsible for its formation. This coevolution over millions of years has allowed bacteria to produce hormones that affect plant processes favorably for their survival. Researchers found it intriguing that these hormones remained functionally active despite the initial sterilization aimed at preventing contamination. “We hypothesize that the dense cellulose matrix preserves these hormones,” Sánchez Coll noted.

At the genetic level, the healing induced by bacterial cellulose appears to differ from standard plant wound repair mechanisms. The cellulose activated different sets of genes, inhibiting some typically associated with healing while activating others linked to infection defense. This unique response is believed to stem from multiple factors: the nature of the wound, the bacterial hormones, and the plant’s defensive reactions to the bacterial cellulose as an unfamiliar element.

While bacterial cellulose has long been utilized in human medical applications, this study represents the first evidence of its inherent biological activity beneficial to plants, according to Anna Roig, a materials scientist at the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona, who was not part of the research team.

Javier Agustí, another plant scientist not associated with the study, expressed enthusiasm about the potential biotechnological applications. “It would be fascinating to see how effectively this method translates to real agricultural settings,” he said, representing the Institute for Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology in Valencia, Spain.

Despite being in the initial phases of research, the findings hint at numerous agricultural applications, Sánchez Coll suggests. These may include facilitating grafting processes, preserving cut plant materials, or functioning as a growth medium in lab environments. Other research teams are already investigating these findings at a molecular level to determine their relevance in other unexplored regeneration processes.

Source
www.sciencenews.org