Identification of Sound Responsive Genes in Rice

Researches on  the effects of music or sound on plants have always been controversial. Sound has been reported to stimulate seed germination, plant and callus growth and flowering. Previous studies have shown that endogenous hormone levels, particularly indole acetic acid (IAA) and abscisic acid (ABA), are affected by specific frequencies of sound. A group of Korean researchers have now isolated a set of sound responsive genes in rice.  

The genes rbcS and ald were found to be up-regulated by specific frequencies of sound under both light and dark conditions. Since these genes are also light regulated, the researchers suggested that sound could represent as an alternative to light in terms of gene regulation. Transgenic rice lines, containing the ald promoter (a regulatory region of DNA located before a gene providing a control point for transcription) and a reporter gene, were then created to monitor the promoter’s response to sound. The sound-responsive expression of the ald gene was found to be closely correlated to its promoter. They suggested that in transgenic plants, specific frequencies of sound could be used to regulate the expression of any gene fused to the ald promoter.

Read the original paper published by the journal Molecular Breeding at http://www.springerlink.com/content/n613183h8q63q162/fulltext.html