Electromagnetic fields (900MHz) evoke consistent molecular responses in tomato plants

David Roux (1) , Alain Vian (1) , Sébastien Girard (2) , Pierre Bonnet (2) , Françoise Paladian (2) , Eric Davies (3) , Gérard G. Ledoigt (1)

1 PIAF - Laboratoire de Physique et Physiologie Intégratives de l'Arbre Fruitier et Forestier
2 LASMEA - Laboratoire des sciences et matériaux pour l'électronique et d'automatique
3 NC State - North Carolina State University [Raleigh]

Although the effects of high-frequency electromagnetic fields on biological systems have been studied frequently, unequivocal results have rarely been obtained, primarily because suitably controlled experiments could not be performed. In the present work, tomato plants were exposed to a homogeneous and isotropic field (900 MHz) using a mode stirred reverberation chamber, and the stress-related transcripts (calmodulin, protease inhibitor and chloroplast mRNA-binding protein) were assayed by real-time quantitative PCR. Exposure to an electromagnetic field induced a biphasic response, in which the levels of all three transcripts increased four-to six-fold 15 min after the end of electromagnetic stimulation, dropped to close to initial levels by 30 min, and then increased again at 60 min. We deliberately focused on the very early molecular responses to high-frequency electromagnetic fields in order to minimize secondary effects.

Domaines: Electromagnétisme

David Roux, Alain Vian, Sébastien Girard, Pierre Bonnet, Françoise Paladian, et al.. Electromagnetic fields (900MHz) evoke consistent molecular responses in tomato plants. Physiologia Plantarum, 2006, 128 (2), pp.283-288. ⟨10.1111/j.1399-3054.2006.00740.x⟩. ⟨hal-00093855⟩