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Carnivorous Plant Biology: From Gene to Traps
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Carnivorous Plant Biology: From Gene to Traps

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Plant Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2023) | Viewed by 14405

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Bartosz Płachno

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Plant Cytology and Embryology, Institute of Botany, Faculty of Biology, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, 9 Gronostajowa St., 30-387 Cracow, Poland
Interests: plant biology; cell ultrastructure; pollination; carnivorous plants; plant anatomy; cell wall structure and function
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Lubomír Adamec

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Section of Plant Ecology, Dukelská 135, CZ-379 82 Třeboň, Czech Republic
Interests: ecophysiology of aquatic and wetland plants; aquatic carnivorous plants (growth traits, mineral nutrition, photosynthesis); utricularia trap ecology; collection of aquatic carnivorous plants

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Carnivorous plants are specific mixotrophic plant, which all perform photosynthesis but need mainly nitrogen and phosphorous from animal or protist bodies. However, carnivorous plants are not only predators, their traps are also home and habitat for many various mutualist organisms, even including vertebrates. Study subjects such as carnivorous plant genomes, physiology, interaction with prey, but also trap development and functioning still need investigation. In this special issue, articles on various aspects of carnivorous plant biology, e.g. trap development and functioning, carnivorous plants as hosts, phytochemistry, molecular biology, genome evolution and phylogeny, will be especially accepted.

Therefore, in this Special Issue of IJMS, we invite you to submit both review and original experimental papers on the topics of widely accepted carnivorous plant biology

Prof. Dr. Bartosz Jan Płachno
Dr. Lubomír Adamec
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • carnivorous plants
  • carnivorous plant chemistry
  • plant and animal interactions
  • nutrients absorption
  • trap functioning

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review

4 pages, 208 KiB  
Editorial
Carnivorous Plant Biology: From Gene to Traps
by Bartosz J. Płachno
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(22), 16179; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms242216179 - 10 Nov 2023
Viewed by 689
Abstract
Carnivorous plants (approximately 850 species) are specific mixotrophic plants which all perform photosynthesis but need mainly nitrogen and phosphorous from animal or protist bodies [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carnivorous Plant Biology: From Gene to Traps)

Research

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23 pages, 5920 KiB  
Article
Effects of Environmental Conditions on the Individual Architectures and Photosynthetic Performances of Three Species in Drosera
by Krzysztof Banaś, Rafał Ronowski and Paweł Marciniak
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(12), 9823; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24129823 - 06 Jun 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1230
Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine the environmental conditions, individual architectures, and photosynthetic efficiencies of three sundew species: Drosera rotundifolia, D. anglica, and D. intermedia, found in well-preserved peatlands and sandy lake shores in NW Poland. Morphological traits [...] Read more.
The aim of this study was to determine the environmental conditions, individual architectures, and photosynthetic efficiencies of three sundew species: Drosera rotundifolia, D. anglica, and D. intermedia, found in well-preserved peatlands and sandy lake shores in NW Poland. Morphological traits and chlorophyll a fluorescence (Fv/Fm) were measured in 581 individuals of Drosera. D. anglica occupies the best-lit and warmest habitats, and also those that are the most heavily hydrated and the richest in organic matter; its rosettes are larger under conditions of higher pH, less organic matter, and less well-lit habitats. D. intermedia occupies substrates with the highest pH but the lowest conductivity, the poorest level of organic matter, and the least hydration. It is highly variable in terms of individual architecture. D. rotundifolia occupies habitats that are the most diverse, and that are often poorly lit, with the lowest pH but the highest conductivity. It is the least variable in terms of individual architecture. The value of the Fv/Fm ratio in Drosera is low (0.616 ± 0.137). The highest photosynthetic efficiency is achieved by D. rotundifolia (0.677 ± 0.111). It is significant for all substrates, indicating its high phenotypic plasticity. The other species have lower and similar Fv/Fm values (D. intermedia, 0.571 ± 0.118; D. anglica, 0.543 ± 0.154). Due to its very low photosynthetic efficiency, D. anglica avoids competition by occupying highly hydrated habitats. D. intermedia has adapted to the occupation of highly variable habitats in terms of hydration, while D. rotundifolia is primarily adapted to variable light conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carnivorous Plant Biology: From Gene to Traps)
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23 pages, 8885 KiB  
Article
Phylogenetical Position versus Pollination Syndromes: Floral Trichomes of Central American and Mexican Pinguicula
by Krzysztof Lustofin, Piotr Świątek, Vitor F. O. Miranda and Bartosz J. Płachno
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(9), 8423; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24098423 - 08 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1764
Abstract
Central American and Mexican Pinguicula species are characterized by enormous divergence in size and color of flowers and are pollinated by butterflies, flies, bees, and hummingbirds. It is known that floral trichomes are key characters in plant–pollinator interaction. The main aim of our [...] Read more.
Central American and Mexican Pinguicula species are characterized by enormous divergence in size and color of flowers and are pollinated by butterflies, flies, bees, and hummingbirds. It is known that floral trichomes are key characters in plant–pollinator interaction. The main aim of our study was to verify our hypothesis that the distribution and diversity of non-glandular and glandular trichomes are related to the pollinator syndromes rather than the phylogenetic relationships. The studied sample consisted of Central American and Mexican species. In our study, we relied on light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy with a phylogenetic perspective based on ITS DNA sequences. The flower morphology of species pollinated by butterflies and hummingbirds was similar in contrast to species pollinated by flies and bees. Species pollinated by butterflies and hummingbirds contained low diversity of non-glandular trichomes, which occurred mostly in the tube and basal part of the spur. Surprisingly, in P. esseriana and P. mesophytica, non-glandular trichomes also occurred at the base of lower lip petals. In the case of species pollinated by flies/bees, we observed a high variety of non-glandular trichomes, which occurred on the surface of corolla petals, in the tube, and at the entrance to the spur. Furthermore, we did not identify any non-glandular trichomes in the spur. The capitate glandular trichomes were of similar morphology in all examined species. There were minor differences in the shape of the trichome head, as well as the length and the number of stalk cells. The distribution and the diversity of non-glandular and glandular trichomes and pollinator syndromes were mapped onto a phylogenetic reconstruction of the genus. Most micromorphological characters appear to be associated more with floral adaptation to pollinators and less with phylogeny. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carnivorous Plant Biology: From Gene to Traps)
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14 pages, 3698 KiB  
Article
Sessile Trichomes Play Major Roles in Prey Digestion and Absorption, While Stalked Trichomes Function in Prey Predation in Byblis guehoi
by You-Xian Li, Alvin Chen and Wei-Ming Leu
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(6), 5305; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24065305 - 10 Mar 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2165
Abstract
Carnivorous plants in the genus Byblis obtain nutrients by secreting viscous glue drops and enzymes that trap and digest small organisms. Here, we used B. guehoi to test the long-held theory that different trichomes play different roles in carnivorous plants. In the leaves [...] Read more.
Carnivorous plants in the genus Byblis obtain nutrients by secreting viscous glue drops and enzymes that trap and digest small organisms. Here, we used B. guehoi to test the long-held theory that different trichomes play different roles in carnivorous plants. In the leaves of B. guehoi, we observed a 1:2.5:14 ratio of long-stalked, short-stalked, and sessile trichomes. We demonstrated that the stalked trichomes play major roles in the production of glue droplets, while the sessile trichomes secrete digestive enzymes, namely proteases and phosphatases. In addition to absorbing digested small molecules via channels/transporters, several carnivorous plants employ a more efficient system: endocytosis of large protein molecules. By feeding B. guehoi fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled bovine serum albumin (FITC-BSA) to monitor protein transport, we found that sessile trichomes exhibited more endocytosis than long- and short-stalked trichomes. The uptaken FITC-BSA was delivered to the neighboring short epidermal cells in the same row as the sessile trichomes, then to the underlying mesophyll cells; however, no signals were detected in the parallel rows of long epidermis cells. The FITC control could be taken up by sessile trichomes but not transported out. Our study shows that B. guehoi has developed a well-organized system to maximize its food supply, consisting of stalked trichomes for prey predation and sessile trichomes for prey digestion. Moreover, the finding that sessile trichomes transfer large, endocytosed protein molecules to the underlying mesophyll, and putatively to the vascular tissues, but not laterally to the terminally differentiated epidermis, indicates that the nutrient transport system has evolved to maximize efficiency. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carnivorous Plant Biology: From Gene to Traps)
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25 pages, 4725 KiB  
Article
Chemonastic Stalked Glands in the Carnivorous Rainbow Plant Byblis gigantea LINDL. (Byblidaceae, Lamiales)
by Simon Poppinga, Noah Knorr, Sebastian Ruppert and Thomas Speck
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(19), 11514; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms231911514 - 29 Sep 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2280
Abstract
Carnivorous rainbow plants (Byblis, Byblidaceae, Lamiales) possess sticky flypaper traps for the capture, retention, and digestion of prey (mainly small insects). The trapping system is based on a multitude of millimeter-sized glandular trichomes (also termed stalked glands), which produce adhesive glue [...] Read more.
Carnivorous rainbow plants (Byblis, Byblidaceae, Lamiales) possess sticky flypaper traps for the capture, retention, and digestion of prey (mainly small insects). The trapping system is based on a multitude of millimeter-sized glandular trichomes (also termed stalked glands), which produce adhesive glue drops. For over a century, the trapping system of Byblis was considered passive, meaning that no plant movement is involved. Recently, a remarkable discovery was made: the stalked glands of Byblis are indeed capable of reacting to chemical (protein) stimuli with slow movement responses. This prompted us to investigate this phenomenon further with a series of experiments on the stimulation, kinematics, actuation, and functional morphology of the stalked glands of cultivated Byblis gigantea plants. Measured stalked gland lengths and densities on the trap leaves are similar to the data from the literature. Motion reactions could only be triggered with chemical stimuli, corroborating the prior study on the stalked gland sensitivity. Reaction time (i.e., time from stimulation until the onset of motion) and movement duration are temperature-dependent, which hints towards a tight physiological control of the involved processes. The stalked gland movement, which consist of a sequence of twisting and kinking motions, is rendered possible by the components of the stalk cell wall and is furthermore anatomically and mechanically predetermined by the orientation of cellulose microfibrils in the cell wall. Successive water displacement processes from the stalk cell into the basal cells actuate the movement. The same kinematics could be observed in stalked glands drying in air or submersed in a saturated salt solution. Stimulated and dried stalked glands as well as those from the hypertonic medium were capable of regaining their initial shape by rehydration in water. However, no glue production could be observed afterwards. The long-time overlooked chemonastic movements of stalked glands may help Byblis to retain and digest its prey; however, further research is needed to shed light on the ecological characteristics of the rainbow plant’s trapping system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carnivorous Plant Biology: From Gene to Traps)
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17 pages, 15286 KiB  
Article
Facing the Green Threat: A Water Flea’s Defenses against a Carnivorous Plant
by Sebastian Kruppert, Martin Horstmann, Linda C. Weiss, Elena Konopka, Nadja Kubitza, Simon Poppinga, Anna S. Westermeier, Thomas Speck and Ralph Tollrian
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(12), 6474; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23126474 - 09 Jun 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2552
Abstract
Every ecosystem shows multiple levels of species interactions, which are often difficult to isolate and to classify regarding their specific nature. For most of the observed interactions, it comes down to either competition or consumption. The modes of consumption are various and defined [...] Read more.
Every ecosystem shows multiple levels of species interactions, which are often difficult to isolate and to classify regarding their specific nature. For most of the observed interactions, it comes down to either competition or consumption. The modes of consumption are various and defined by the nature of the consumed organism, e.g., carnivory, herbivory, as well as the extent of the consumption, e.g., grazing, parasitism. While the majority of consumers are animals, carnivorous plants can also pose a threat to arthropods. Water fleas of the family Daphniidae are keystone species in many lentic ecosystems. As most abundant filter feeders, they link the primary production to higher trophic levels. As a response to the high predatory pressures, water fleas have evolved various inducible defenses against animal predators. Here we show the first example, to our knowledge, in Ceriodaphnia dubia of such inducible defenses of an animal against a coexisting plant predator, i.e., the carnivorous bladderwort (Utricularia x neglecta Lehm, Lentibulariaceae). When the bladderwort is present, C. dubia shows changes in morphology, life history and behavior. While the morphological and behavioral adaptations improve C. dubia’s survival rate in the presence of this predator, the life-history parameters likely reflect trade-offs for the defense. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carnivorous Plant Biology: From Gene to Traps)
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Review

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29 pages, 2644 KiB  
Review
Secondary Metabolites with Biomedical Applications from Plants of the Sarraceniaceae Family
by Ileana Miclea
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(17), 9877; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23179877 - 30 Aug 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2290
Abstract
Carnivorous plants have fascinated researchers and hobbyists for centuries because of their mode of nutrition which is unlike that of other plants. They are able to produce bioactive compounds used to attract, capture and digest prey but also as a defense mechanism against [...] Read more.
Carnivorous plants have fascinated researchers and hobbyists for centuries because of their mode of nutrition which is unlike that of other plants. They are able to produce bioactive compounds used to attract, capture and digest prey but also as a defense mechanism against microorganisms and free radicals. The main purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the secondary metabolites with significant biological activity found in the Sarraceniaceae family. The review also underlines the necessity of future studies for the biochemical characterization of the less investigated species. Darlingtonia, Heliamphora and Sarracenia plants are rich in compounds with potential pharmaceutical and medical uses. These belong to several classes such as flavonoids, with flavonol glycosides being the most abundant, monoterpenes, triterpenes, sesquiterpenes, fatty acids, alkaloids and others. Some of them are well characterized in terms of chemical properties and biological activity and have widespread commercial applications. The review also discusses biological activity of whole extracts and commercially available products derived from Sarraceniaceae plants. In conclusion, this review underscores that Sarraceniaceae species contain numerous substances with the potential to advance health. Future perspectives should focus on the discovery of new molecules and increasing the production of known compounds using biotechnological methods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carnivorous Plant Biology: From Gene to Traps)
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