Signal percolation through plants and the shape of the calcium signature.

Plants respond to almost any kind of external stimulus with transients in their cytoplasmic free calcium concentration (Ca(2+)). A huge variety of kinetics recorded by optical techniques has been reported in the past. This variety has been credited the specificity needed to explain how information about incoming stimuli is evaluated by the organism and turned into the right physiological responses which provide advantages for survival and reproduction. A physiological response often takes place away from the site of stimulation. This requires cell-to-cell communication. Hence, responding cells are not necessarily directly stimulated but rather receive an indirect stimulus via cell-to-cell communication. It appears unlikely that the 'Ca(2+) signature' in the primarily stimulated cell is conveyed over long distances via cell-to-cell communication from the 'receptor cells' to the 'effector cells'. Here, a novel aspect is highlighted to explain the variety of [Ca(2+)] kinetics seen by integrating methods of Ca(2+) recording. Plants can generally be seen as cellular automata with specific morphology and capable for cell-to-cell communication. Just a few rules are needed to demonstrate how waves of Ca(2+)-increases percolate through the organism and thereby deliver a broad variety of 'signatures'. Modelling intercellular signalling may be a possible way to find explanations for different kinds of signal transmission, signal amplification, wave formation, oscillations and stimulus-response coupling. The basic examples presented here show that care has to be taken when interpreting cellular 'Ca(2+) signatures' recorded by optical techniques which integrate over a big number of cells or even whole plants.