Vines Make Their Own Glue

Pesky vines cling to crops and sinisterly wind themselves around the plant until it's overrun by the vine.

Now researchers at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service have studied the Mississippi redvine and figured out how vines use their tiny grabbing appendages - called tendrils - to form this stranglehold.

Redvine tendrils start off as straight, thin, flexible appendages off the shoot. When touched, the cells along each tendril's length expand and elongate towards the source of the stimulus. When a whole bunch of tendrils make this response at the same time, the vine curls around an object for support.

As the tendrils rub against the object, a chemical reaction takes place inside the cells, creating a cement the sticks the vine to its climbing surface.

Researchers are now looking at the metabolic pathways associated with the creation of cement in hope that they can inhibit it and control the vine's growth.

Redvine (Brunnichia ovata), a perennial woody vine that regenerates new growth from woody rootstocks and climbs by its tendrils, is a big problem for Mississippi Delta crops, especially soybeans. This research was published in the Sept. issue of Agricultural Research.