Pietak Alexis Mari
Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, University of Otago Dunedin, New Zealand.
Electromagn Biol Med. 2011 Jun;30(2):93-107. doi: 10.3109/15368378.2011.566779.
Electromagnetic (EM) phenomena have long been implicated in biological development, but few detailed, practical mechanisms have been put forth to connect electromagnetism with morphogenetic processes. This work describes a new hypothesis for plant leaf veination, whereby an endogenous electric field forming as a result of a coherent Frohlich process, and corresponding to an EM resonant mode of the developing leaf structure, is capable of instigating leaf vascularisation. In order to test the feasibility of this hypothesis, a three-dimensional, EM finite-element model (FEM) of a leaf primordium was constructed to determine if suitable resonant modes were physically possible for geometric and physical parameters similar to those of developing leaf tissue. Using the FEM model, resonant EM modes with patterns of relevance to developing leaf vein modalities were detected. On account of the existence of shared geometric signatures in a leaf's vascular pattern and the electric field component of EM resonant modes supported by a developing leaf structure, further theoretical and experimental investigations are warranted. Significantly, this hypothesis is not limited to leaf vascular patterning, but may be applicable to a variety of morphogenetic phenomena in a number of living systems.
电磁（EM）现象长期以来一直被认为与生物发育有关，但很少有详细、实用的机制被提出来将电磁学与形态发生过程联系起来。这项工作描述了一种关于植物叶脉的新假说，即由于相干弗罗利希过程而形成的内源性电场，与发育中的叶片结构的电磁共振模式相对应，能够促使叶片血管化。为了检验这一假说的可行性，构建了一个叶原基的三维电磁有限元模型（FEM），以确定对于与发育中的叶片组织相似的几何和物理参数，合适的共振模式在物理上是否可能。使用有限元模型，检测到了与发育中的叶脉模式相关的共振电磁模式。鉴于叶片血管模式中存在共享的几何特征以及发育中的叶片结构所支持的电磁共振模式的电场分量，有必要进行进一步的理论和实验研究。值得注意的是，这一假说不仅限于叶片血管模式形成，还可能适用于许多生命系统中的各种形态发生现象。
