Plant environmental memory: implications, mechanisms and opportunities for plant scientists and beyond

Plants are extremely plastic organisms. They continuously receive and integrate environmental information and adjust their growth and development to favour fitness and survival. When this integration of information affects subsequent life stages or the development of subsequent generations, it can be considered an environmental memory. Thus, plant memory is a relevant mechanism by which plants respond adaptively to different environments. If the cost of maintaining the response is offset by its benefits, it may influence evolutionary trajectories. As such, plant memory has a sophisticated underlying molecular mechanism with multiple components and layers. Nonetheless, when mathematical modelling is combined with knowledge of ecological, physiological, and developmental effects as well as molecular mechanisms as a tool for understanding plant memory, the combined potential becomes unfathomable for the management of plant communities in natural and agricultural ecosystems. In this review, we summarize recent advances in the understanding of plant memory, discuss the ecological requirements for its evolution, outline the multilayered molecular network and mechanisms required for accurate and fail-proof plant responses to variable environments, point out the direct involvement of the plant metabolism and discuss the tremendous potential of various types of models to further our understanding of the plant's environmental memory. Throughout, we emphasize the use of plant memory as a tool to unlock the secrets of the natural world. Plants have an amazing capacity to adapt to their environment and recall prior experiences in order to improve their development and survival. This 'plant memory' is a mechanism that allows plants to successfully adjust to changing environments and entails intricate molecular processes with several components and levels. Insights into plant memory and its significance can lead to developments in plant communities in natural and agricultural ecosystems management by integrating modeling with the understanding of ecological, physiological and developmental consequences. This review looks at current breakthroughs in plant memory research, the evolutionary conditions for its development, the extensive molecular networks involved and the significance of plant metabolism. It also emphasizes the possibilities of diverse modeling approaches for unraveling natural world riddles utilizing plant memory as a tool.

Automated summary

Plants have a remarkable ability to adapt to their environment and utilize previous experiences to improve their development and survival. This "plant memory" is a complex molecular mechanism with multiple components and layers, and has the potential to greatly enhance our understanding and management of plant communities in natural and agricultural ecosystems through the integration of mathematical modeling with knowledge of ecological, physiological, and developmental effects.