Biological Clock Found in Plants 32
Joe the Lesser writes "This CNN article discusses how scientists have found that a chemical 'clock' that tells a plant to prepare for the sun. The clock controls an enzyme that modifies a protein called D1. This protein is critical for photosynthesis, the process whereby plants extract light and convert it to food. When D1 binds with phosphorus, it creates a modified protein found in chloroplast -- a special structure in the cell that's made of carbohydrates, fat and proteins."
I have a clock like that. (Score:2)
I have something like that, it makes strange growling noises need my belly buttons right around lunch time.
Re:I have a clock like that. (Score:1)
Re:Uses??? (Score:3, Interesting)
Old news (Score:3, Funny)
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J. Green Giant
Re:Old news (Score:5, Funny)
It's almost like that's a joke, except it isn't funny and it doesn't even make any sense.
Re:Old news (Score:3, Interesting)
I agree, completely. However, for some reason it made me laugh.
I think my sense of humor is bored and experimenting with surrealism.
Re:Old news (Score:1)
Convoluted it is, and all hope of humor is gone if it needs explaining, but for those scratching their heads:
He signs his post, "J. Green Giant". Jolly Green Giant. Big green guy from frozen vegetable commericials. Could perhaps be a giant humanoid plant.
Boxers. Men trying to have kids often switch from briefs to boxers (and sometimes take more radical steps) to keep the testicles a little cooler and thus produce more sperm.
So, the plant-man Jolly Green Giant is c
Men don't (quite) have ticking clocks (Score:2)
Though supposedly scientists now think men have biological clocks too [abc.net.au]...it's women who are 'famous' for have 'ticking' gotta-have-kids clocks. In both sexes, it's designed to get you to reproduce while you're healthy, but women face a rather finite deadline [plannedparenthood.org]...with guys, it's not quite as....uh...firm...
Of course, you all seem to have forgotten that the Jolly Green Giant HAS a kid already- 'Sprout'. further proof you
Re:Old news (Score:2)
Jeopardy Answer: Who is CarrotTop?
Next thing you know (Score:3, Funny)
The lady plants'll start really going on the prowl at about 33 or so...
Odd Article (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe they just don't know how the clock works yet, but it would be nice to have more information about the nature of the clock than a explaination of photosynthesis. I know that that photosynthesis is worked in because the clock has an effect on it, but is that really the real story? It isn't IMHO.
Life (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Life (Score:1)
Plant ageing clock (Score:4, Informative)
You can look it up on the web, but the short version is that each time a cell divides, it shortens the telomeres on the ends of its genes; when it runs out of telomeres, the cell dies (or becomes cancerous, or is subject to other age-related disease processes).
Baby humans and plants don't have this limit, since, in gametogenesis, the telomeres are lengthened by a chemical called "telomerase", effectively resetting the clock for the newly created entity.
-- Terry
It would be nice if... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:It would be nice if... (Score:2)
Phototropism? (Score:1)
link to paper + abstract (Score:4, Informative)
link2paper [plantphysiol.org]
Phosphorylation of the D1 Photosystem II Reaction Center Protein Is Controlled by an Endogenous Circadian RhythmIsabelle S. Booij-James, W. Mark Swegle, Marvin Edelman, and Autar K. Mattoo*
Vegetable Laboratory, The Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center-West, United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, Maryland 20705-2350 (I.S.B.-J., M.S., A.K.M.); and Department of Plant Sciences, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel (M.E.)
The light dependence of D1 phosphorylation is unique to higher plants, being constitutive in cyanobacteria and algae. In a photoautotrophic higher plant, Spirodela oligorrhiza, grown in greenhouse conditions under natural diurnal cycles of solar irradiation, the ratio of phosphorylated versus total D1 protein (D1-P index: [D1-P]/[D1] + [D1-P]) of photosystem II is shown to undergo reproducible diurnal oscillation. These oscillations were clearly out of phase with the period of maximum in light intensity. The timing of the D1-P index maximum was not affected by changes in temperature, the amount of D1 kinase activity present in the thylakoid membranes, the rate of D1 protein synthesis, or photoinhibition. However, when the dark period in a normal diurnal cycle was cut short artificially by transferring plants to continuous light conditions, the D1-P index timing shifted and reached a maximum within 4 to 5 h of light illumination. The resultant diurnal oscillation persisted for at least two cycles in continuous light, suggesting that the rhythm is endogenous (circadian) and is entrained by an external signal.
Re:link to paper + abstract (Score:2)
Is it just me or does the concept of karma whore rahter miss the point of karma?
Biological Clock Found In Pants. (Score:3, Funny)
remove one more l (Score:2, Funny)
That's why (Score:2, Funny)
hmm... (Score:2)
this doesn't surprise me... (Score:1)