Peter V. Minorsky- Doctor of Philosophy
- Professor (Full) at Mercy University
Peter V. Minorsky
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Professor (Full) at Mercy University
About
62
Publications
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Introduction
I received my Ph.D. in plant physiology from Cornell University where I discovered that plants use calcium fluxes to sense rapid drops in temperature. After my post-doc, I became an undergraduate biology professor. I am the co-author of two introductory biology textbooks (Campbell Biology). I have published review articles relating to plant geomagnetobiology, the functions of foliar nyctinasty, the racism encountered by Sir J.C. Bose, and the history and metascience of plant neurobiology.
Skills and Expertise
Current institution
Additional affiliations
September 2001 - present
Education
September 1980 - January 1987
Publications
Publications (62)
I present here a rebuttal to an article in this volume wherein Kingsland and Taiz (2024) cast aspersions about an article I have written concerning Sir Jagadis Chandra Bose (Minorsky PV, in Plant Signal Behav 16:1818030, 2021) a brilliant Bengali scientist who was a pioneer not only in physics (microwaves and semi-conductors), but also in elucidati...
The 21st-century “plant neurobiology” movement is an amalgam of scholars interested in how “neural processes”, broadly defined, lead to changes in plant behavior. Integral to the movement (now called plant behavioral biology) is a triad of historically marginalized subdisciplines, namely plant ethology, whole plant electrophysiology and plant compa...
Sir Jagadis Chandra Bose, India’s first modern biologist departed boldly from mainstream botany by claiming that plants possess “nerves” and “pulsating cells” that function respectively much like the nerve and heart cells of animals. These ideas were based on highly sensitive measurements he made of various plant functions by means of assorted inge...
Foliar nyctinasty is a plant behaviour characterised by a pronounced daily oscillation in leaf orientation. During the day, the blades of nyctinastic plant leaves (or leaflets) assume a more or less horizontal position that optimises their ability to capture sunlight for photosynthesis. At night, the positions that the leaf blades assume, regardles...
Since its discovery in the early 1960's, abscisic acid (ABA) has received considerable attention as an important phytohormone, and more recently, as a candidate medicinal in humans. In plants it has been shown to regulate important physiological processes such as response to drought stress, and dormancy. The discovery of ABA synthesis in animal cel...
Relatively little is known about the effects of geomagnetism on plants. Such fundamental questions as (1) whether or not plants perceive the Earth's magnetic field, (2) the physical nature of the magnetic receptor(s) and (3) whether or not the geomagnetic field has any bearing on the physiology and survival of plants remain largely unanswered. The...
In plants with alternately arranged foliage, such as the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera), leaves are attached to the stem in either an ascending clockwise (left handed [L]) or counterclockwise (right handed [R]) spiral (Fig. 1). Foliar spiral direction (FSD) is not genetically determined in coconut palms: All crosses (R × R, R × L, L × R, L × L) yiel...
Rapid-cooling pulses to non-stressful temperatures cause strong, transient depolarizations in cortical cells of cucumber roots. The amplitudes of these electrical responses are graded according to the rate and amplitude of the cooling pulse. Such graded potentials are typical of sensory processes and indicate that plants possess the ability to sens...
The different effects which fast versus slow cooling have on such fundamental plant processes as ion transport, protoplasmic streaming, phloem translocation, growth, cell motility, water absorption and membrane potential are reviewed. When plant cells are rapidly cooled to non-injurious temperatures, many of the physiological ramifications of rapid...
It is suggested that increased levels of free cytosolic calcium ([Ca2+]cyt) may serve as the primary physiological transducer of chilling injury in plants. Numerous similarities between the effects of [Ca2+]cyt-raising treatments on plants and the effects of chilling temperatures on chilling-sensitive (CS) plants are noted. It is proposed that chil...
In coconut palms, leaves are attached to the stem in either an ascending
clockwise (left-handed or L) or counter-clockwise (right-handed or R)
spiral (1). Foliar spiral direction (FSD) is a classic case of
morphological antisymmetry, in which dextral and sinistral forms are not
inherited and are equally common within a species (2). FSD would seem a...
The symposium ''Frontiers of Plant Cell Biology: Signals and Pathways, Systems-Based Approaches'' was held January 15-18, 2003 at the Riverside Convention Center in Riverside, California. The host organization for the symposium was the Center for Plant Cell Biology (CEPCEB) at the University of California, Riverside (UCR). The meeting, focusing on...
Traditional approaches to teaching botany, with their emphasis on preserved specimens, prepared slides, and slow-to-develop physiological experiments tend to lead students to one conclusion—plants are boring (Uno, 1994). Surveys have also shown that students have a strong preference for hands-on experiments which utilize living material and generat...
Davis and Davis (Mathematical Modelling8: 730–733, 1987) have previously concluded, based on data collected from 42 locations around the world, that the ratio of
right-handed to left-handed palm trees (Cocos nuciferaL.) exhibits hemispheric differences: left-handed palms are in the majority in the Northern Hemisphere, and right-handed palms
are in...
This chapter describes methods for patch clamp studies of microbial ion channels and activities of channel types. Macroscopic currents can be measured readily with a conventional two-electrode voltage clamp. Although attempts to patch clamp live paramecia—ciliated or deciliated—have failed, isolated membrane vesicles in the form of detached surface...
