The carnivorous plant Genlisea harnesses active particle dynamics to prey on microfauna

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Martin-Roca, Jose; Barriuso, G. C. Miguel; Fernandez, Raul Martinez; Giuliano, Camila Betterelli; Zhang, Rongjin; Valeriani, Chantal; Wilson, Laurence G.
• 署名单位: Complutense University of Madrid; Chinese Academy of Sciences; University of Science & Technology of China, CAS; University of York - UK
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-14347
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2409510121
• 发表日期: 2025-01-07
• 关键词: lentibulariaceae; utricularia; chemotaxis

摘要

Carnivory in plants is an unusual trait that has arisen multiple times, independently, throughout evolutionary history. Plants in the genus Genlisea are carnivorous and feed on microorganisms that live in soil using modified subterranean leaf structures (rhizophylls). A surprisingly broad array of microfauna has been observed in the plants' digestive chambers, including ciliates, amoebae, and soil mites. Here, we show, through experiments and simulations, that Genlisea exploit active matter physics to rectify bacterial swimming and establish a local flux of bacteria through the structured environment of the rhizophyll toward the plant's digestion vesicle. In contrast, macromolecular digestion products are free to diffuse away from the digestion vesicle and establish a concentration gradient of carbon sources to draw larger microorganisms further inside the plant. Our experiments and simulations show that this mechanism is likely to be a localized one and that no large-scale efflux of digested matter is present.