Abstract
Multicellular sensory hairs were excised from the leaf of Venus's flytrap, and the sensory cells were identified by a destructive dissection technique. The sensory layer includes a radially symmetrical rosette of 20–30 apparently identical cells, and the sensory cells are organized in a plane normal to the long axis of the sensory hair. The sensory cells were probed with intracellular glass electrodes. The resting membrane potential was about -80 mv, and the response to a mechanical stimulus consisted of a graded response and an "action potential." The action potential appears to be similar to the action potential which propagates over the surface of the leaf. In the absence of stimulation, the upper and lower membranes of a single sensory cell behave in an electrically symmetrical fashion. Upon stimulation, however, the upper and lower membranes become electrically asymmetrical. Limiting values for the response asymmetry were calculated on the hypothesis of an electrical model consistent with the histology of the sensory cells.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (1.1 MB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- DI PALMA J. R., MOHL R., BEST W., Jr Action potential and contraction of Dionaea muscipula (Venus flytrap). Science. 1961 Mar 24;133(3456):878–879. doi: 10.1126/science.133.3456.878. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Jacobson S. L. Receptor response in Venus's fly-trap. J Gen Physiol. 1965 Sep;49(1):117–129. doi: 10.1085/jgp.49.1.117. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Sibaoka T. Action potentials in plant organs. Symp Soc Exp Biol. 1966;20:49–73. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]