Killer Plant's Juices Deciphered

Victims of the pitcher plant fall to their demise in the organism's cup-shaped leaf — the part of the plant filled with digestive juices.

For the first time, the carnivorous plant's complex chemical cocktail of fluids has been deciphered, and researchers think the discovery may lead to benefits in medicine and agriculture.

Unlike plants that soak up nutrients from the soil, pitcher and other carnivorous plants thrive in nutrient-poor soils by using organs evolved to capture insects and digest them to take in nitrogen and phosphorous – crucial elements their environment lacks.

Tatsuro Hamada and Naoya Hatano, scientists at Japan's Ishikawa Prefectural University, used protein-analyzing techniques to isolate each part of the digestive juices, then sequenced their long chains to deduce an exact chemical structure. Hamada and Hatano detected seven proteins in the pitcher fluid, including active chemical enzymes, which might be used to safely stop bacterial growth and rotting in the plant as it slowly digests its prey. Such compounds may be useful in agriculture or in hospitals.

Their study of the pitcher plant, known as Nepenthes alata in the scientific realm, is detailed in the February issue of Journal of Proteome Research.

— LiveScience Staff

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Credit: USDA Forest Service