Production: Pablo Cantudo
How does a plant develop a taste for meat?
In 2017, a study published in Nature Ecology and Evolution concluded that some plants have dedicated themselves to adapting genes and proteins originally involved in defense against certain diseases to give them a new function, that of digesting insects.
Now, other research published in Current Biology has yielded a compatible result: genetic mixing helped certain plants develop the ability to trap and digest protein-rich prey.
The key lies in a common ancestor of these plants, which lived about 60 million years ago. Carnivorous plants reuse copies of genes that once helped the roots of their ancestors absorb nutrients, for use in roots, leaves and sensory systems to detect and digest prey.
The researchers conclude that the consumption of meat by plants is a trait that has become more sophisticated over time to develop varied and devious ways of trapping animals.
Pitcher plants, for example, use ‘traps’ for insects to fall into, and digest them with their enzymes. Sundew rolls up its sticky landing pad when mosquitoes are caught. For its part, the Venus flytrap ( Dionaea muscipula ) uses powerful pads that close when an insect lands on them.
To discover how these traps evolved, researchers led by computational evolutionary biologist Jörg Schultz and plant biologist Rainer Hedrich, both from the University of Würzburg, sequenced the genomes of Drosera , Aldrovanda vesiculosa ( waterwheel plant ) and Venus flytrap. . They then compared their genomes with those of nine other plants, including a carnivorous pitcher plant and non-carnivorous beet and papaya plants.
Eventually, they discovered the duplication of the entire genome of an ancient ancestor, which released copies of genes that were once used in roots, leaves, and sensory systems to detect and digest prey.
Discussion
However, Victor Albert, a plant evolutionary biologist at the University of Buffalo, says that Hedrich’s team does not have enough data to support this origin, especially since some genes essential for predation existed in an earlier ancestor common to plants of jar and the three new sequenced plants.
For his part, Luis Herrera-Estrella, a plant genomicist at Texas Technological University, believes that most plants already have many of the genes necessary to be carnivorous: “The way seems to be open for all plants.”
References:
‘How Venus flytraps evolved their taste for meat’ (Science Magazine). Elizabeth pennisi
‘Genomes of the Venus Flytrap and Close Relatives Unveil the Roots of Plant Carnivory’. Gergo Palfalvi. May 14, 2020. DOI: https: //doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.04.051
