How Did All Carnivorous Plants Evolve Their Taste For Meat
Carnivorous plants may be a rare sight in the wild, but they’re actually quite common. In fact, scientists estimate that about 600 species of carnivorous plants exist throughout the world – and you can find them on every continent except Antarctica! The question is: how did these plant-eating predators evolve their taste for meat? Well, there are many different hypotheses surrounding this topic. One popular theory suggests that early carnivores ate insects which had fallen into water or onto leaves and then attracted more insects with their sweet nectar. Another hypothesis claims that after some time spent evolving alongside animals such as ants and caterpillars, most likely due to proximity and lack of competition from other plant types in the environment, carnivores evolved to take advantage
We also recommend reading about our other article: Are Carnivorous plants edible for humans?
Research on Carnivorous Plants
A team of scientists from various renowned institutions in China, Japan, Australia, Europe, and the US recently discovered a possible answer to this age-old question. Their study took a look at several types of carnivorous plants, to include pitcher plants from Australia, Asia, and America.
Pitcher plants get their name due to the pitcher-shaped leaves. These leaves hold the digestive fluids at the bottom of these pitchers. Moreover, the plant also secrets a nectar-like juice. This juice attracts the insects, and as they come to eat the nectar, fall into the liquid and can’t get out. All this happens due to a waxy coating on the leaves.
These three carnivorous plants look alike. All of them catch prey via leaves that are full of active digestive enzymes. Each species evolved separately on their respective continents. Therefore, this was an opportunity for the researchers to find out common characteristics among them. These characteristics can make them look different from each other.
Evolution of Carnivorous Plants
According to the study, there was a limited path these plants could follow to become carnivorous. And, all three did so via similar genetic changes. The team determined it after sequencing the genome of the Australian pitcher plant. Moreover, this study also shows the development of the required enzymes that help these plants digest meat.
Surprisingly, all three plants can create the same type of proteins. It is due to their stressful environments and the lack of sufficient nutrient sources. They then somehow concocted the essential digestive enzymes they required for their new food source- meat by using genes typically used for self-protection.
Convergent Evolution Of Carnivorous Plants
Biologists call this convergent evolution. This evolution occurs when two entirely dissimilar organisms live in similar environments. In such cases, they evolve parallel to one another. Another example of this is the similarities in ichthyosaurs and dolphins. The three pitcher plants live in different continents. But, all three evolve into having the vital ability to catch and eat insects and other small creatures. After all, the purpose is to survive in an eco-system with a few food choices.
One of the enzymes which they develop is the chitinase. They use this to break down an insect’s exoskeleton, as well as purple acid phosphatase. It allows them to get phosphorus from their victims, as well as they can obtain nitrogen from their prey. Both of these are nutrients critical to the plant’s survival.
More Findings From Carnivorous Plant Studies
The team of researchers studied the plants’ digestive juices and found 35 different proteins via the use of mass spectrometry. A lot of these were related to proteins flowering plants have to help them fight off deadly pathogens. Plants use a particular enzyme to break down chitin to fight off infection from the fungus. That’s because fungi cell walls consist of chitin. However, in the case of the pitcher plants, they can tweak this enzyme. Also, they can somehow make it able to break down the insect’s hard exoskeleton. After all, it is also a form of chitin.
The team also learned that the plants’ genes in their pitcher-shaped leaves used to catch and eat their prey were activated differently than their other foliage that wasn’t used for detecting and eating their prey. It includes those genes that produce the sugar and starches needed to make the sweet nectar to lure their prey to its doom, along with the genes to make the waxy substance on their leaves that keeps the prey from climbing out of the trap.
Researchers lauded the importance of the study, demonstrating that convergent evolution can happen to clear down at the molecular level, as this is important for future research.
What We Learned While Writing How Did All Carnivorous Plants Evolve Their Taste For Meat
There are lots of types and species of meat-eating plants beside the pitcher plants studied by the team of researchers. However, they believe the others had to have also evolved similarly as these pitcher plants did, and that a similar cycle occurred in each species.
The bottom line is that when plants or animals are in a situation where they must evolve or die, then evidently, it’s possible for them to develop unique and unusual characteristics to ensure their survival.
