Band structure of surface electric potential in growing roots.

For growing roots of azuki bean (Phaseolus chrysanthos), an electric potential is measured minutely along the surface of the root, together with the surface pH. It was found that the root begins to display a band-type pattern of potential with a spatial period of about 2 cm in a mature region as soon as it grows to about 10 cm in root length, while the surface potential shows only one convex peak around a position 5-20 mm behind a root tip and a succeeding concave peak around 20-35 mm, providing the length of root is shorter than about 10 cm. Since the surface potential takes a relatively positive value on average at the side of the root base compared with that in an elongation zone near the tip, electric current is supposed to flow into the elongation zone, accompanied by some local current loops in the mature region. The present band-type pattern observed first in multi-cell systems seems to be a kind of dissipative structure appearing far from equilibrium, and hence its relationship to growth is discussed.