Plants Produce Aspirin to Deal with Stress

Aspirin is in virtually everyone’s medicine cabinet. Not only does it relieve headaches, aspirin has been shown to lower the risk of heart attack and stroke. As it turns out, plants under stress produce their own form of aspirin. Scientists from the U.S. Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) found by accident that plants respond to stress by producing methyl salicylate, a chemical form of acetylsalicylic acid or aspirin.

Thomas Karl, who led the study, said that the aspirin-like compound triggers the formation of proteins that boost plant’s biochemical defenses and reduce injury. The scientist also speculates that stressed plants secrete methyl salicylate to warn neighboring plants of the threat. "These findings show tangible proof that plant-to-plant communication occurs on the ecosystem level," says NCAR scientist Alex Guenther, a co-author of the study. "It appears that plants have the ability to communicate through the atmosphere." Researchers have never detected methyl salicylate in an environment or verified that plants release the chemical into the atmosphere in significant amounts.

Karl said that farmers, forest managers, and others may be able to monitor methyl salicylate for early signs of a disease, an insect infestation, or other types of stress.

For more information, read http://www.ucar.edu/news/releases/2008/plants.jsp The article published by Biogeoscience is available at http://www.biogeosciences.net/5/1287/2008/bg-5-1287-2008.html