Bhodi Tims

Are All Plants Carnivores?

March 27, 2019Bhodi Tims

Fungal species of the Metarhizium genus colonize most land plants and help provide nitrogen to the plant root. The nitrogen source is unique – insects that the fungus has pathogenized and killed using enzymatic degradation of the insect’s shell.

200px-Metarhizium_anisopliae_infected_cockroach_(PLoS) — Insect infected with Metarhizium spp.

Mike Bidochka of Brock University investigated the phenomena by injecting labelled nitrogen into Galleria mellonella larvae (moth). They buried the larvae in soil and separated the larvae from either beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) or switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) plants using a screen with pores large enough for fungal mycelium to grow through but small enough to prevent plant root growth.

Fourteen days later, they found labelled nitrogen made up more than a quarter of nitrogen found in plant root tissue. Insects Larvae with labelled nitrogen not infected by the fungus did not act as nitrogen sources for the plant.

Good evidence for an ecosystem rich in biota, rather than one where selective human inputs alters it into a simpler set of relationships. In most cases, the soil environment becomes less sustainable.

Are you a Renegade?

March 22, 2019March 22, 2019Bhodi Tims

The renegade, or wild thing, in my heart is a man that loves to play.

I was cheerfully reminded of my need for play at a men’s retreat, how a water balloon and squirt gun fight, with little or no rules, can lift my heart and mind. I’ve been in play deficit, probably for some time. My inner grown up has been in charge much too long. Although I consider the craft of writing, both science and poetry, a form of play, rarely do I experience physical play. Working out is not really play, but it can be – see Go Animal.

My girls claim I play like a boy, a bit too wild. When I was playing pickup soccer, or actively studying martial arts or dance I played daily. Stuart Brown at the National Institute for Play presents research in a TED Talk from 2008. Take a minute and review your own life. Are you playing enough?

I do play using my mind quite frequently, my inventive creativity a strength. I firmly trust the concept of Beginners Mind, as espoused by Shunryu Suzuki. I find in mentoring herbalists and researchers the freedom to play is a great asset that few have learned. This is especially true in multi-disciplinary environments. Here’s an example I ran across recently about the power of trusting in play.

Justine Musk’s blog discusses the Innocentive problem solving website started by Alpheus Bingham, a vice president at Eli Lilly. He asked the public to solve some of the company’s hardest scientific problems by offering a financial reward to anyone who proposed a solution.

When solvers “rated the problem as outside their own domain”, Alpheus noted that they were more likely to stumble upon solutions. They were “bridging knowledge fields” – taking ideas from one domain and introducing them into a different domain. They reframed problems, combined and recombined ideas, and opened up new lines of thinking.

This message echoed my own experience. Pursue your passions outside the explicit area in which you “work”. Embrace your inner renegade. And don’t back down from throwing unusual ideas into the conversation. Have faith in your own unique perspective. You never know when creative people in your sphere of influence will “run with it”.

I want to give a shout out to my best bud, Chas Murray. Whenever we are together, we play. Let me share what I miss the most. He was living in Norfolk and when I’d visit we inevitably ended up at the beach. Our favorite game was to take a ball or a Frisbee and play catch with a twist. The player without the ball ran into the surf at full speed and the thrower tried to lead them into a full layout just as a cresting wave arrived. You had to trust in what would unfold and that your commitment to the moment was a joyful act in and of itself!

Not knowing is the most intimate thing (Zen Master Jizu).

Plant Chemical Out Posts

March 15, 2019March 16, 2019Bhodi Tims

The search for chemical mediators in plant root rhizosphere interactions with symbiotic and pathogenic organisms found in the soil continues to generate interesting research. Martha Hawes group at the University of Arizona reported on the role of sugars, proteins and small molecules found in root cap secretions – a mucilaginous mixture that covers the growing root tip and “converses” with the surrounding matrix of living organisms. The cap is rich in root border cells, which detach from the growing root tip. Curlango-Rivera et al (2010) provides us a bit more detail about which metabolites are biologically active. Neither sugars nor amino acids triggered root growth or border cell production. Transient exposure to biologically active concentration levels of the isoflavonoid pisatin, a phytoalexin, stimulated root border cell production but not root tip growth. I wonder if inhibition of root elongation may “reset” plant growth patterns as root border cells, acting as chemical sense organs, define the nature of the environment?

A second paper used histochemcial methods to profile root metabolites in plants from the Rose family (Hoffman et al., 2010). They found flavan-3-ol molecules in the root tip and border cells. Their findings suggest that the distribution of flavan-3-ols in Fragaria and Malus is under tight developmental control. These molecules are found in plants as catechin and epicatechin derivatives and in long chain (polymeric) form. They influence the taste and medicinal potential of green tea and wine, to name a few well-known plants. Previous researchers summarized their role in chelating toxic cations (metals) in the soil, establishing mycorrhizal interactions and priming plant root defense. This paper suggests a role in the transport of the long distance plant hormone auxin, which would link the chemical cross talk at root border cells with responses that occur in tissue distal to root tips. Hoffman’s research lacked a clear distinction of whether the monomeric or polymeric flavan-3-ol forms where the active species. This has plagued plant research for some time, since the analytical methods for detecting the polymeric forms have been crude and ineffective. All of their samples were from a botanical garden. I wonder if the flavan-3-ol profile would differ compared to native wild grown species?

References:

Curlango-Rivera, G. et al. (2010) Plant Soil 332:267-275
Hoffmann, T. et al. (2011) Plant Biology, 13: no. doi: 10.1111/j.1438-8677.2011.00462.x