Biochemical and Physiological Evidence of Maternal Care in Plants: A Case Study of Chlorophytum comosum

Plants exhibit a wide array of well-characterized survival and reproductive strategies, yet definitive evidence for maternal care has remained absent. Here, we report evidence of maternal care in the plant kingdom using Chlorophytum comosum as a model system. Biochemical and physiological analyses were conducted on mother (MRs) and daughter ramets (DRs) of C. comosum across four distinct developmental stages of the DRs (S1-S4), ranging from the juvenile stage (S1) to the fully photoautotrophic stage (S4). It was observed that, during the progressive development stages, DRs first develop their photosynthetic potential, followed by the subsequent development of water and mineral uptake capacity. Biochemical and anatomical studies highlighted that stolon acts as a vital life-support conduit, analogous to a placenta, facilitating the translocation of nutrients and water from MRs to DRs. In the present study, the dynamics of sucrose-phosphate synthase, acid invertase, and starch concentrations in MRs and DRs clearly reveal metabolic communication between MRs and DRs and demonstrated the biochemical basis of maternal care in C. comosum. The findings further supported by the stolon severance experiment, in which detached DRs at stage S1 exhibited a 0% survival rate, which increased progressively with developmental stage and reached 100% survival at stage S4. At this stage, when DRs attain full independence, all biological communication between MRs and DRs was terminated. Although DRs achieved full autonomy by Stage S4, MRs maintain stolon-mediated physical connections for approximately two additional weeks, with gradual deterioration at Stage S5 and complete disconnection occurring naturally at Stage S6, indicating post-establishment maternal care. Chlorophyll fluorescence and stolon anatomical analyses during root-prevention and drought-induction experiments revealed that stolon connectivity is maintained when DRs fail to establish roots at Stage S3 or experience drought stress at Stage S4. Under these conditions, MRs continued to provide physiological support via the stolon until successful establishment. Together, these findings demonstrated that C. comosum exhibits maternal care until establishment is assured, thereby enhancing survival under environmental stress, and open new avenues for investigating the plant neurobiology and molecular communication underlying maternal care.