Memory elements in the electrical network of Mimosa pudica L.

The fourth basic circuit element, a memristor, is a resistor with memory that was postulated by Chua in 1971. Here we found that memristors exist in vivo. The electrostimulation of the Mimosa pudica by bipolar sinusoidal or triangle periodic waves induce electrical responses with fingerprints of memristors. Uncouplers carbonylcyanide-3-chlorophenylhydrazone and carbonylcyanide-4-trifluoromethoxy-phenyl hydrazone decrease the amplitude of electrical responses at low and high frequencies of bipolar sinusoidal or triangle periodic electrostimulating waves. Memristive behavior of an electrical network in the Mimosa pudica is linked to the properties of voltage gated ion channels: the channel blocker TEACl reduces the electric response to a conventional resistor. Our results demonstrate that a voltage gated K+ channel in the excitable tissue of plants has properties of a memristor. The discovery of memristors in plants creates a new direction in the modeling and understanding of electrical phenomena in plants.