ArticleAnnals of botany2013
Secreted pitfall-trap fluid of carnivorous Nepenthes plants is unsuitable for microbial growth.
Article in Annals of botany, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 papers.
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Who cites it
44 citing papers in PubMed, 88 citations in OpenAlex.
- ROS Equilibrium in the Digestive Fluid of theInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Transcriptomic prey-capture responses in convergently evolved carnivorous pitcher plants.The New phytologist · 2026Article
- An insect trap adjusting to weather conditions: Nepenthes rafflesiana plants control the fluid level in their pitchers to maximize prey capture.Annals of botany · 2026Article
- Bioactive Potential ofPlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Carnivorous plants can decompose the polyesters poly(ethylene terephthalate) and poly(butylene adipate terephthalate).Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Inhibition of RPA32 and Cytotoxic Effects of the Carnivorous PlantPlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The Occurrence, Uses, Biosynthetic Pathway, and Biotechnological Production of Plumbagin, a Potent Antitumor Naphthoquinone.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Do Reactive Oxygen and Nitrogen Species Have a Similar Effect on Digestive Processes in CarnivorousBiology · 2023Review
- Biological Potential of Carnivorous Plants from Nepenthales.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- The Arabidopsis DUF239 gene family encodes Neprosin-like proteins that are widely expressed in seed endosperm.The plant genome · 2023Article
- Carnivorous Plants from Nepenthaceae and Droseraceae as a Source of Secondary Metabolites.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Is the Phytotoxic Effect of Digestive Fluid ofPlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Capture of mammal excreta by Nepenthes is an effective heterotrophic nutrition strategy.Annals of botany · 2022Article
- ROS and RNS Alterations in the Digestive Fluid ofPlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- The digestive systems of carnivorous plants.Plant physiology · 2022Review
- Selective Bacterial Community Enrichment between the Pitcher Plants Sarracenia minor and Sarracenia flava.Microbiology spectrum · 2021Article
- Plumbagin, a Potent Naphthoquinone fromMolecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Plant Beneficial Features and Application of Paraburkholderia sp. NhPBG1 Isolated from Pitcher of Nepenthes hamblack.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2021Article
- Carnivorous Nepenthes x ventrata plants use a naphthoquinone as phytoanticipin against herbivory.PloS one · 2021Article
- Pitchers of Nepenthes khasiana express several digestive-enzyme encoding genes, harbor mostly fungi and probably evolved through changes in the expression of leaf polarity genes.BMC plant biology · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsCarnivorous plants of the genus Nepenthes possess modified leaves that form pitfall traps in order to capture prey, mainly arthropods, to make additional nutrients available for the plant. These pitchers contain a digestive fluid due to the presence of hydrolytic enzymes. In this study, the composition of the digestive fluid was further analysed with regard to mineral nutrients and low molecular-weight compounds. A potential contribution of microbes to the composition of pitcher fluid was investigated.
methodsFluids from closed pitchers were harvested and analysed for mineral nutrients using analytical techniques based on ion-chromatography and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy. Secondary metabolites were identified by a combination of LC-MS and NMR. The presence of bacteria in the pitcher fluid was investigated by PCR of 16S-rRNA genes. Growth analyses of bacteria and yeast were performed in vitro with harvested pitcher fluid and in vivo within pitchers with injected microbes. KEY
resultsThe pitcher fluid from closed pitchers was found to be primarily an approx. 25-mm KCl solution, which is free of bacteria and unsuitable for microbial growth probably due to the lack of essential mineral nutrients such as phosphate and inorganic nitrogen. The fluid also contained antimicrobial naphthoquinones, plumbagin and 7-methyl-juglone, and defensive proteins such as the thaumatin-like protein. Challenging with bacteria or yeast caused bactericide as well as fungistatic properties in the fluid. Our results reveal that Nepenthes pitcher fluids represent a dynamic system that is able to react to the presence of microbes.
conclusionsThe secreted liquid of closed and freshly opened Nepenthes pitchers is exclusively plant-derived. It is unsuitable to serve as an environment for microbial growth. Thus, Nepenthes plants can avoid and control, at least to some extent, the microbial colonization of their pitfall traps and, thereby, reduce the need to vie with microbes for the prey-derived nutrients.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.