Bioelectricity in Plant Morphogenesis

In the evolutionary history of life on this planet, plant multicellular organisms emerged independently from animal ones. This gives us a rare opportunity to compare the two systems and extract common molecular and physical mechanisms underlying the creation of growth and form (morphogenesis). This is about finding universal laws and constraints, or universalities, in multicellular biology. It is now clear that in both plants and animals, morphogenesis requires orchestrated molecular, mechanical, and bioelectric interactions among cells. While classic embryology was focused on the mechanics and bioelectric aspects of morphogenesis, it is modern molecular genetics that gave us the greatest amount of data about the complex network of molecular interactions playing a role in the development of multicellular stable structures. Still, the picture is far from being complete, as entire classes of developmental processes remains poorly understood. In the more recent years, a stream of new measurement devices and imaging methods, together with the development of powerful computational tools, generated renewed interest in the mechanics and bioelectricity of morphogenesis.

This Special Issue will focus on the current research carried on the role of bioelectricity in plant development. This will be of interest not just for the plant biologists and biophysicists, but to all scientists interested in understanding universalities in multicellular biology.

The issue will address a wide range of topics including but not restricted to the following:

• Plant electrophysiology
• New measurements and imaging methods related to plant bioelectricity
• Interaction between plant organisms and external electromagnetic fields
• Computational modeling of bioelectric interactions in plants
• Integration between plant organism and electronic devices

Contributions will receive prompt and thorough peer review. Please refer to our Instructions for Authors before submitting your manuscript for consideration. Also, before submitting, authors would be welcome to discuss their ideas directly with the Guest Editor Dr. Giovanni Sena.

Early submissions will receive prompt and thorough peer-review; accepted manuscripts will be published e-pub ahead of print when-ready.

About the Journal – now in PubMed Central
Bioelectricity is the only peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the study of the natural electricity within living organisms and how to harness this phenomenon to treat and cure disease. The Journal publishes ground-breaking multidisciplinary research and advances documenting this next step in the evolution of how we study life. For complete tables of content and a sample issue, please visit the Bioelectricity website.

About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Stem Cells and Development, Tissue Engineering, and The CRISPR Journal. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 90 journals, newsmagazines, and books is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.