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Did you know that plants have memories just as humans do?

The human brain gives a lot of importance to "high-reward memories", according to a study by researchers from the Australian National University. Researchers used genetic studies to show that plants may "reset memories that are not useful". Hence, just like human brains that can forget a few memories after storing them, plants too might play a similar trick, says a press release.

Studies earlier showed that plants can "remember" some phenomena such as droughts, with the ability to adapt and survive conditions that can occur again. The process involves the DNA of the plants, and their ability to pass on memories to their offspring. However, the details of the mechanism are unclear.

Plants can create a specific protein permitting them to build up memories. The protein impacts the DNA so that they can have an effect on future generations. The entire sequence is part of RNA decay. This is a process in which the DNA strands are transcribed into RNA before they get translated into proteins, according to the study published in the Feb.19,2016 issue of Science Advances.

By gauging and controlling the amount of RNA molecules that can be turned into proteins, memory formation is prevented.

Requiring resources for memory formation, the plant finds it beneficial to forget memories. So when an area has not undergone drought, the plants are required to release resources that deal with drought survival, which leads to the conservation of energy.