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Plants Create Own Stress Relief

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The Associated Press

Published: September 19, 2008

WASHINGTON - Aspirin is among the most popular remedies used by people. Turns out some plants like it, too.

Researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research were surprised to discover that stressed plants produce an aspirinlike chemical that can be detected in the air above the plants.

The chemical may be a sort of immune response that helps protect the plants, the scientists speculated.

According to the researchers, the finding raises the possibility that farmers, forest managers and others may eventually be able to start monitoring plants for early signs of a disease, an insect infestation or other types of stress.

Currently, they often do not know whether an ecosystem is unhealthy until there are visible indicators, such as dead leaves.

"Unlike humans, who are advised to take aspirin as a fever suppressant, plants have the ability to produce their own mix of aspirinlike chemicals, triggering the formation of proteins that boost their biochemical defenses and reduce injury," said NCAR scientist Thomas Karl, the lead researcher.

"Our measurements show that significant amounts of the chemical can be detected in the atmosphere as plants respond to drought, unseasonable temperatures or other stresses."

Although researchers had known that plants in the laboratory produce a form of aspirin known as methyl salicylate, they had never looked for it in the forest.

But when they set up measuring devices in a walnut grove near Davis, Calif., to monitor plant emissions that can affect pollution, they discovered measurable amounts of methyl salicylate.

The new findings, announced Thursday by NCAR in Boulder, Colo., were published in the journal Biogeosciences. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, NCAR's sponsor.

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