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The effect of surface anisotropy in the slippery zone of Nepenthes alata pitchers on beetle attachment

The slippery zone in pitchers of the carnivorous plant Nepenthes alata bears scattered prominent lunate cells and displays continuous epicuticular crystalline wax coverage. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of the surface anisotropy, caused by the shape of lunate cells, on insect at...

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Autores principales: Gorb, Elena V, Gorb, Stanislav N
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Beilstein-Institut 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3148052/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21977443
http://dx.doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.2.35
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author Gorb, Elena V
Gorb, Stanislav N
author_facet Gorb, Elena V
Gorb, Stanislav N
author_sort Gorb, Elena V
collection PubMed
description The slippery zone in pitchers of the carnivorous plant Nepenthes alata bears scattered prominent lunate cells and displays continuous epicuticular crystalline wax coverage. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of the surface anisotropy, caused by the shape of lunate cells, on insect attachment ability. Traction tests with ladybird beetles Coccinella septempunctata were performed in two types of experiments, where surface samples of (1) intact pitchers, (2) chemically de-waxed pitchers, and (3) their polymer replicas were placed horizontally. Beetle traction forces were measured when they walked on test surfaces in either an upward (towards the peristome) or downward (towards the pitcher bottom) direction, corresponding to the upright or inverted positions of the pitcher. On intact pitcher surfaces covered with both lunate cells and wax crystals, experiments showed significantly higher forces in the direction towards the pitcher bottom. To distinguish between the contributions, from claw interlocking and pad adhesion, to insect attachment on the pitcher surfaces, intact versus claw-ablated beetles were used in the second type of experiment. On both de-waxed plant samples and their replicas, intact insects generated much higher forces in the downward direction compared to the upward one, whereas clawless insects did not. These results led to the conclusion that, (i) due to the particular shape of lunate cells, the pitcher surface has anisotropic properties in terms of insect attachment, and (ii) claws were mainly responsible for attachment enhancement in the downward pitcher direction, since, in this direction, they could interlock with overhanging edges of lunate cells.
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spelling pubmed-31480522011-10-05 The effect of surface anisotropy in the slippery zone of Nepenthes alata pitchers on beetle attachment Gorb, Elena V Gorb, Stanislav N Beilstein J Nanotechnol Full Research Paper The slippery zone in pitchers of the carnivorous plant Nepenthes alata bears scattered prominent lunate cells and displays continuous epicuticular crystalline wax coverage. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of the surface anisotropy, caused by the shape of lunate cells, on insect attachment ability. Traction tests with ladybird beetles Coccinella septempunctata were performed in two types of experiments, where surface samples of (1) intact pitchers, (2) chemically de-waxed pitchers, and (3) their polymer replicas were placed horizontally. Beetle traction forces were measured when they walked on test surfaces in either an upward (towards the peristome) or downward (towards the pitcher bottom) direction, corresponding to the upright or inverted positions of the pitcher. On intact pitcher surfaces covered with both lunate cells and wax crystals, experiments showed significantly higher forces in the direction towards the pitcher bottom. To distinguish between the contributions, from claw interlocking and pad adhesion, to insect attachment on the pitcher surfaces, intact versus claw-ablated beetles were used in the second type of experiment. On both de-waxed plant samples and their replicas, intact insects generated much higher forces in the downward direction compared to the upward one, whereas clawless insects did not. These results led to the conclusion that, (i) due to the particular shape of lunate cells, the pitcher surface has anisotropic properties in terms of insect attachment, and (ii) claws were mainly responsible for attachment enhancement in the downward pitcher direction, since, in this direction, they could interlock with overhanging edges of lunate cells. Beilstein-Institut 2011-06-16 /pmc/articles/PMC3148052/ /pubmed/21977443 http://dx.doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.2.35 Text en Copyright © 2011, Gorb and Gorb https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0https://www.beilstein-journals.org/bjnano/termsThis is an Open Access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The license is subject to the Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology terms and conditions: (https://www.beilstein-journals.org/bjnano/terms)
spellingShingle Full Research Paper
Gorb, Elena V
Gorb, Stanislav N
The effect of surface anisotropy in the slippery zone of Nepenthes alata pitchers on beetle attachment
title The effect of surface anisotropy in the slippery zone of Nepenthes alata pitchers on beetle attachment
title_full The effect of surface anisotropy in the slippery zone of Nepenthes alata pitchers on beetle attachment
title_fullStr The effect of surface anisotropy in the slippery zone of Nepenthes alata pitchers on beetle attachment
title_full_unstemmed The effect of surface anisotropy in the slippery zone of Nepenthes alata pitchers on beetle attachment
title_short The effect of surface anisotropy in the slippery zone of Nepenthes alata pitchers on beetle attachment
title_sort effect of surface anisotropy in the slippery zone of nepenthes alata pitchers on beetle attachment
topic Full Research Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3148052/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21977443
http://dx.doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.2.35
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