A viscoelastic deadly fluid in carnivorous pitcher plants.

<h4>Background</h4>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 pitch...

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Autores principales:	Laurence Gaume, Yoel Forterre
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2007
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/f2e54bdfc7dc477ab45bc581481158ba
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:f2e54bdfc7dc477ab45bc581481158ba2021-11-25T06:13:51ZA viscoelastic deadly fluid in carnivorous pitcher plants.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0001185https://doaj.org/article/f2e54bdfc7dc477ab45bc581481158ba2007-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0001185https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203<h4>Background</h4>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.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>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.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>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.Laurence GaumeYoel ForterrePublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 2, Iss 11, p e1185 (2007)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Laurence Gaume Yoel Forterre A viscoelastic deadly fluid in carnivorous pitcher plants.
description	<h4>Background</h4>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.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>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.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>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.
format	article
author	Laurence Gaume Yoel Forterre
author_facet	Laurence Gaume Yoel Forterre
author_sort	Laurence Gaume
title	A viscoelastic deadly fluid in carnivorous pitcher plants.
title_short	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_sort	viscoelastic deadly fluid in carnivorous pitcher plants.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2007
url	https://doaj.org/article/f2e54bdfc7dc477ab45bc581481158ba
work_keys_str_mv	AT laurencegaume aviscoelasticdeadlyfluidincarnivorouspitcherplants AT yoelforterre aviscoelasticdeadlyfluidincarnivorouspitcherplants AT laurencegaume viscoelasticdeadlyfluidincarnivorouspitcherplants AT yoelforterre viscoelasticdeadlyfluidincarnivorouspitcherplants
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A viscoelastic deadly fluid in carnivorous pitcher plants.

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