植物一湿就“恐慌”

植物一湿就“恐慌”

Plants go into a state of all-consuming “panic” when it rains, according to surprised scientists.

据惊讶的科学家说，植物在下雨时会进入一种极度“恐慌”的状态。

This response is so unusual because plants obviously need water to live.

这种反应很不寻常，因为植物显然需要水才能生存。

The researchers think that the ‘panic’ response is due to the fact moisture creates the number one way for diseases to spread in vegetation.

研究人员认为，这种“恐慌”反应是由于水分造成了疾病在植被中传播的头号途径。

Biochemist Harvey Millar from The University of Western Australia explained: “When a raindrop splashes across a leaf, tiny droplets of water ricochet in all directions.

来自西澳大利亚大学的生物化学家哈维·米勒解释说：“当雨滴溅落在树叶上时，微小的水滴会向四面八方飞溅。”

“These droplets can contain bacteria, viruses, or fungal spores.

这些液滴可能含有细菌、病毒或真菌孢子。

“A single droplet can spread these up to 10 meters (32-feet) to surrounding plants.”

“一个小水滴就能把这些细菌传播到周围10米(32英尺)远的地方。”

The longer a leaf is wet, the greater the chance that a disease can take hold.

叶子湿得越久，疾病发生的几率就越大。

So this is why the researchers think plants react to rain like humans would react to someone sneezing on them.

所以这就是为什么研究人员认为，植物对雨水的反应就像人类对打喷嚏的人的反应一样。

They conducted an experiment in which they mimicked rain with a spray bottle and noticed rapid microscopic reactions from the plants that are invisible to the human eye.

他们进行了一项实验，用喷雾瓶模拟雨水，并注意到人眼看不见的植物的快速微观反应。

After the first 10 minutes of fake raining, over 700 genes in the plants were said to respond in a panic-like manner and most of them continued to do so for around 15 minutes.

在前10分钟的假降雨之后，据说植物中的700多个基因以恐慌的方式反应，其中大多数基因持续反应了15分钟左右。

In this time chemical reactions like how the plant creates proteins and its hormone balance were affected.

在这个时候，化学反应，如植物如何产生蛋白质和它的激素平衡被影响。

A single touch of water-activated an immediate response from plants.

只要一接触水，植物就会立即做出反应。

The reactions created warning signals that traveled from leaf to leaf and resulted in the plant undertaking a range of protective measures.

这些反应产生了警告信号，从一片叶子传到另一片叶子，导致植物采取了一系列保护措施。

Plants that were repeatedly watered eventually suffered from stunted growth and delayed flowering.

反复浇水的植物最终会生长迟缓，开花延迟。

Interestingly, the plants were also found to be communicating their ‘fears’ with nearby vegetation.

有趣的是，这些植物还被发现与附近的植物交流他们的“恐惧”。

They did this by secreting airborne chemicals that can be picked up by other plants and inform them what’s going on and how they’re coping.

他们通过分泌空气中的化学物质来做到这一点，这些化学物质可以被其他植物吸收，并告诉他们发生了什么以及他们是如何应对的。

Millar said: “If a plant’s neighbors have their defense mechanisms turned on, they are less likely to spread disease so it’s in their best interest for plants to spread the warning to nearby plants.”

米勒说：“如果一个植物的邻居打开了他们的防御机制，他们就不太可能传播疾病，所以植物向附近的植物传播警告对他们最有利。”

This study has been published in the journal PNAS.

这项研究发表在《美国国家科学院院刊》上。