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A Viscoelastic Deadly Fluid in Carnivorous Pitcher Plants

BACKGROUND: The carnivorous plants of the genus Nepenthes, widely distributed in the Asian tropics, rely mostly on nutrients derived from arthropods trapped in their pitcher-shaped leaves and digested by their enzymatic fluid. The genus exhibits a great diversity of prey and pitcher forms and its me...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Gaume, Laurence, Forterre, Yoel
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2007
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2075164/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18030325
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0001185
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author Gaume, Laurence
Forterre, Yoel
author_facet Gaume, Laurence
Forterre, Yoel
author_sort Gaume, Laurence
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The carnivorous plants of the genus Nepenthes, widely distributed in the Asian tropics, rely mostly on nutrients derived from arthropods trapped in their pitcher-shaped leaves and digested by their enzymatic fluid. The genus exhibits a great diversity of prey and pitcher forms and its mechanism of trapping has long intrigued scientists. The slippery inner surfaces of the pitchers, which can be waxy or highly wettable, have so far been considered as the key trapping devices. However, the occurrence of species lacking such epidermal specializations but still effective at trapping insects suggests the possible implication of other mechanisms. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using a combination of insect bioassays, high-speed video and rheological measurements, we show that the digestive fluid of Nepenthes rafflesiana is highly viscoelastic and that this physical property is crucial for the retention of insects in its traps. Trapping efficiency is shown to remain strong even when the fluid is highly diluted by water, as long as the elastic relaxation time of the fluid is higher than the typical time scale of insect movements. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This finding challenges the common classification of Nepenthes pitchers as simple passive traps and is of great adaptive significance for these tropical plants, which are often submitted to high rainfalls and variations in fluid concentration. The viscoelastic trap constitutes a cryptic but potentially widespread adaptation of Nepenthes species and could be a homologous trait shared through common ancestry with the sundew (Drosera) flypaper plants. Such large production of a highly viscoelastic biopolymer fluid in permanent pools is nevertheless unique in the plant kingdom and suggests novel applications for pest control.
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spelling pubmed-20751642007-11-21 A Viscoelastic Deadly Fluid in Carnivorous Pitcher Plants Gaume, Laurence Forterre, Yoel PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: The carnivorous plants of the genus Nepenthes, widely distributed in the Asian tropics, rely mostly on nutrients derived from arthropods trapped in their pitcher-shaped leaves and digested by their enzymatic fluid. The genus exhibits a great diversity of prey and pitcher forms and its mechanism of trapping has long intrigued scientists. The slippery inner surfaces of the pitchers, which can be waxy or highly wettable, have so far been considered as the key trapping devices. However, the occurrence of species lacking such epidermal specializations but still effective at trapping insects suggests the possible implication of other mechanisms. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using a combination of insect bioassays, high-speed video and rheological measurements, we show that the digestive fluid of Nepenthes rafflesiana is highly viscoelastic and that this physical property is crucial for the retention of insects in its traps. Trapping efficiency is shown to remain strong even when the fluid is highly diluted by water, as long as the elastic relaxation time of the fluid is higher than the typical time scale of insect movements. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This finding challenges the common classification of Nepenthes pitchers as simple passive traps and is of great adaptive significance for these tropical plants, which are often submitted to high rainfalls and variations in fluid concentration. The viscoelastic trap constitutes a cryptic but potentially widespread adaptation of Nepenthes species and could be a homologous trait shared through common ancestry with the sundew (Drosera) flypaper plants. Such large production of a highly viscoelastic biopolymer fluid in permanent pools is nevertheless unique in the plant kingdom and suggests novel applications for pest control. Public Library of Science 2007-11-21 /pmc/articles/PMC2075164/ /pubmed/18030325 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0001185 Text en Gaume, Forterre. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Gaume, Laurence
Forterre, Yoel
A Viscoelastic Deadly Fluid in Carnivorous Pitcher Plants
title A Viscoelastic Deadly Fluid in Carnivorous Pitcher Plants
title_full A Viscoelastic Deadly Fluid in Carnivorous Pitcher Plants
title_fullStr A Viscoelastic Deadly Fluid in Carnivorous Pitcher Plants
title_full_unstemmed A Viscoelastic Deadly Fluid in Carnivorous Pitcher Plants
title_short A Viscoelastic Deadly Fluid in Carnivorous Pitcher Plants
title_sort viscoelastic deadly fluid in carnivorous pitcher plants
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2075164/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18030325
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0001185
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