(ORDO NEWS) — Did you know that some carnivorous plants need to be able to count in order to catch their prey.
Venus flytraps not only can count, they do it better than so many animals that can’t get past three or four. The evolutionary benefit is well understood, but how the plant achieves this remains a mystery.
Just as mice with a deactivated gene can teach us how it affects other members of their species, the discovery of a D. muscipula mutant lacking mathematical ability could show where other flycatchers get their skills.
In 2016, Professor Rainer Hedrich from the University of Würzburg discovered that Venus flytraps can count up to five, but a major exception has recently been discovered, which is highlighted in a new paper.
Venus flytraps have tiny hairs on the inside of their jaws that, when triggered, provide electrical stimulation that causes calcium waves.
The plant must be able to distinguish between potential prey and other triggers such as a raindrop or a strong gust of wind, so it only closes after two rounds of stimulation in quick succession.
Previous work by Hedrich showed that even after the trap is slammed shut, the plant cannot afford to waste the jasmonic acid it uses to turn prey into slime on false alarms.
Consequently, the hairs must be called out three more times by the struggle of the trapped insect before the acid is released.
Dr. Sonke Scherzer co-authored a previous study and subsequently attended a plant exhibit where a grower demonstrated a flycatcher whose jaws would not close, not to mention the production of jasmonic acid needed to turn prey into nourishing slime.
Further research showed that the traps are able to close, but the plant does not register the triggering mechanism.
“This mutant obviously forgot how to count, which is why I called it dyscalculia,” Khedich said. Aside from the plant, dyscalculia is the numerical equivalent of dyslexia, making smart people struggle with math.
When stimulated by prey or a meddlesome scientist, normal flytraps will snap shut on a second touch, but this does not happen with dyscalculia.
Hedrich confirmed that dyscalculia has the same ability to perceive touch as other Venus flytraps and can process insects that scientists have treated and fed with jasmonic acid.
The problem is that the plant lacks the ability to count the number of calcium signals induced by an insect’s touch in order to know when to close the trap.
The team focused on parts of the flycatcher’s genome associated with calcium signaling to find out how dyscalculia genes differ from other D. muscipula.
They hope this will lead them to the genes responsible for the counting mechanism and therefore how it is done.
A carnivorous plant that can’t figure out when to close its jaws on prey probably won’t live long enough.
However, flycatchers get most of their nutrients from the soil, air, and sunlight, just like other plants. And insects are just extra food to make up for the lack of nutrients in their native wetlands.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.