In animals, long-range signaling to integrate activities across
the organism occurs through rapid ionic/membrane potential driven
signaling through the nervous system in addition to operating
via long-distance chemical signaling. Plants have also
been proposed to possess a rapid, systemic communication network,
potentially mediated through signals ranging from changes
in membrane potential/ion fluxes (1–3) and levels of reactive
oxygen species (ROS) (4, 5) to altered hydraulics in the vasculature
(6). Even so, the molecular mechanisms behind rapid,
systemic signaling in plants and whether such signals indeed
carry regulatory information remains largely unknown.