Neurotransmitters in Plants ― Perspectives and Applications

New scientific data confirm the origin of neurotransmitters in the ancient ocean, whose inhabitants use the compounds in their relationships. One example is the algae Ulvaria, whose image is represented on the cover. During evolution, plant and microbial cells stored the neurotransmitters that play multifunctional roles today. Researchers have paid special attention to their functions in plants, the oxygen well of our planet.

This book provides powerful tools for both analyzing and manipulating organisms, considering the functions of neurotransmitters in plant cells and the practical application of knowledge about acetylcholine, catecholamines, serotonin, melatonin, histamine, gamma-aminobutyric acid and glutamine for ecology, agriculture, medicine and food industries. Neurotransmitters in Plants: Perspectives and Applications presents information on:

•  the location and biosynthesis where neurotransmitters occur
•  the molecular biology of some enzymes participating in the process
•  their role in vivo and in vitro processes
•  their functions in plant environmental adaptation in plants
•  their role in enriching the food and medicinal value of plants.

Dr. Akula Ramakrishna, Ph.D, FSAB is a scientist at the Monsanto Crop Breeding Centre in India. His areas of research include metabolic engineering, plant tissue culture, plant biochemistry, abiotic stress tolderance, bioactive secondary metabolites, and vegetable quality analytics. Dr. Ramakrishna has made noteworthy contributions through R&D pursuits in the area of in vitro plant cultures for improvement of food value plants Coffea, Stevia, and Daucus carota. He has also studied extensively on the roles of serotonin, melatonin, and calcium mediated signaling in plants.

Dr. Ramakrishna has made significant contributions in the area of metabolic engineering of secondary metabolites from plants and abiotic stress in plants. He has also worked on production and regulation of plant secondary metabolites from food value plants that includes natural pugments viz caffeine, steviosides, anthocyanins, and carotenoids. Moreover, Dr. Ramakrishna has worked on the transformation of coffee to regulate caffeine biosynthesis, somatic embryogenesis in coffee, transformation methods and analysis of caffeine alkaloids. Currently, Dr. Ramakrishna is working on vegetable quality assessment.

Victoria Vladimirovna Roshchina, plant biochemist and physiologist, was born in Leningrad, now Sankt-Petersbury, Russia. She has received a diploma from Voronezh State University as magister of Biochemistry and Physiology in 1972. After the post-graduateship in the Institute of Photosynthesis in 1977, Dr. Roshchina received her PhD in Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Plant Physiology for the in vivo study of electron carriers in chloroplasts. Then, in 1991, she obtained her diploma of Doctor of Sciences at the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Plant Physiology for the pioneer investigations of the role of neurotransmitters and other natural compounds in chloroplasts.

In cooperation with Valentina D. Roshchina she published Russian and English versions of the book The Excretory Function of Higher Plants, devoted to the modes and mechanisms of the action of the secretory products of plants. In 1991, Dr. Roshchina wrote the Russian variant of the book, Biomediators in Plants: Acetylcholine and Biogenic Amines, published by the Biological Center of the USSR and later issued in English. Now, Dr. Roshchina is actively working at the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Cell Biophysics in the field of chemical signalization with neurotransmitter compounds in plants, including the problems of cell-cell communications in allelopathy, pollen-pistil interactions at fertilization, autofluorescence of secretory cells and their reactions on the environmental factors, such as ozone and other oxidants. She is the author of 230 papers and eight monographs, as well as a member of the Editorial Board of the Allelopathy Journal.