title: Vine tendrils use contact chemoreception to avoid conspecific leaves.
abstract: Movement and growth habit of climbing plants have attracted attention since the time of Charles Darwin; however, there are no reports on whether plants can choose suitable hosts or avoid unsuitable ones based on chemoreception. Here, I show that the tendrils ofCayratia japonica(Vitaceae) appear to avoid conspecific leaves using contact chemoreception for oxalates, which are highly concentrated inC. japonicaleaves. The coiling experiments show thatC. japonicahas a flexible plastic response to avoid coiling around conspecific leaves. The coiling response is negatively correlated with the oxalate content in the contacted leaves. Experiments using laboratory chemicals indicate that the tendrils avoid oxalate-coated plastic sticks. These results indicate that the tendrils ofC. japonicaavoid coiling around a conspecific leaf based on contact chemoreception for oxalate compounds. The tendrils of climbing plants may function as a chemoreceptor system to detect the chemical cues of a contacted plant.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1, Midoricho, Nishitokyo, Tokyo, Japan yuya.fukano@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Yuya
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9057-4742
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fukano
mesh_terms: D019815:Oxalic Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry*; D027844:Vitaceae
chemical_list: D019815:Oxalic Acid
keywords: chemical cue; climbing plant; decision making; plant behaviour; species recognition; thigmomorphogenesis