The Pitcher ProcessBiologist Victor Albert from the University of Buffalo and his team of researcher

The Pitcher ProcessBiologist Victor Albert from the University of Buffalo and his team of researchers analyzed the genome of the Australian pitcher plant (Cephalotus follicularis) then compared it to existing genetic information for two other species; the North American (Sarracenia purpurea) and the Asian (Nepenthes alata) plants. All of these pitcher plants have a similar appearance with waxy type leaves carrying a slippery sweet-tasting liquid that certain animals and insects have a craving for. When insects venture too close to the edge, they have less of a chance to escape the ooze and usually end up in the bottom, where the plant then uses its digestive fluids to break down the prey absorbing nutrients. The digestive fluids inside all three of these species were found to be surprisingly similar to one another, even though these plants evolved into carnivorous plants while living in very different regions. The Australian plant is more closely related to starfruit than the other pitcher plants, just as both the North American and the Asian plants are more closely related to the kiwi fruit and to buckwheat. Distant species independently developing the same kind of traits is known as convergent evolution.The researchers found that the lineage of these plants split more than 100 million years ago, long before developing carnivorous traits. The analysis of their fluids shows that all three species took proteins originally used against defending diseases and repurposed them into two different enzymes; basic chitinase (breaks down the hard exoskeleton of the insect) and purple acid phosphatase (absorbs the nutrient phosphorus.)Now why would these plants develop such enzymes for devouring insect flesh while so many other species of plants are just fine with sunshine and rain? The theory suggests that the environment where these pitcher plants are found is often nutrient-poor, and that has a lot to do with how they developed their specific way of gathering essentials to prosper.–MiImage Credit – http://bit.ly/2l9EbycSource – http://bit.ly/2kJ1Dly -- source link

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