«The simple act of water droplets landing on a leaf causes an elaborate response inside of plants, scientists at The University of Western Australia have found.
A similar reaction is seen when plants are patted or touched, suggesting that they are highly aware of what is happening to them. The study, published in the journal Plant Physiology, suggests that this touch response may prepare a plant to defend itself from danger or take advantage of changes in the weather.
Lead researcher Dr Olivier Van Aken from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology at UWA said while nothing visibly happened to plants when they were touched, their ‘touch response’ launched a cascade of signals inside leaves that prepared them for the future.
A change in the expression of thousands of plant genes was initially observed by researchers when plants were sprayed with water. The dramatic response occurred within minutes of spraying and stopped in half an hour.»
Read more at http://phys.org/news/2016-05-world.html
Original paper Plant Phisiology Published online first