The best attack is a good defense for some carnivorous plants
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Insectivorous plants have fascinated biologists for more than a century, but how plants developed the ability to capture and consume live prey remains largely a mystery. Now, Salk scientists, along with collaborators from the University of Washington at St. Louis, has investigated the molecular basis of plant carnivores and found evidence that it evolved from mechanisms that plants use to defend themselves. Research published on July 11, 2022, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ( PNAS ), detailing how calcium molecules move dynamically within cells in the leaves of carnivorous plants in response to touch from live prey. Fluctuations in calcium cause leaf movement to capture prey, possibly through increased production of defense hormones. The findings broaden scientists’ understanding of how plants interact with their environment. “If we can learn more about how plants such as these and others