ArticleJournal of experimental botany2014
The Venus flytrap attracts insects by the release of volatile organic compounds.
Article in Journal of experimental botany, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 34 papers.
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Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed.
- Glutathione induces trap closure for carnivory in Cape sundew.Science advances · 2026Article
- Multivariate evaluation method for the detection of pest infestations on plants via VOC analysis using gas chromatography mass spectrometry.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Cyto-architecture of Byblis glands and leaf cells based on freeze-substitution and conventional TEM.Annals of botany · 2025Article
- Induction by caterpillars of stored and emitted volatiles in terpene chemotypes from populations of wild cotton (Gossypium hirsutum).BMC plant biology · 2025Article
- Disentangling the Tissue-Specific Variations of Volatile Flavor Profiles of theFoods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Differences in the Occurrence of Cell Wall Components between Distinct Cell Types in Glands ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Experimental Growth Conditions affect Direct and Indirect Defences in two Cotton Species.Journal of chemical ecology · 2023Article
- Carnivorous Plants from Nepenthaceae and Droseraceae as a Source of Secondary Metabolites.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Volatile organic compounds influence prey composition in Sarracenia carnivorous plants.PloS one · 2023Article
- Article
- Biological computation: hearts and flytraps.Journal of biological physics · 2022Article
- Protein expression plasticity contributes to heat and drought tolerance of date palm.Oecologia · 2021Article
- Evolutionary changes in an invasive plant support the defensive role of plant volatiles.Current biology : CB · 2021Article
- Volatile and Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds May Help Reduce Pollinator-Prey Overlap in the Carnivorous Plant Drosophyllum lusitanicum (Drosophyllaceae).Journal of chemical ecology · 2021Article
- The High Osmolarity Glycerol (HOG) Pathway Functions in Osmosensing, Trap Morphogenesis and Conidiation of the Nematode-Trapping FungusJournal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- A single touch can provide sufficient mechanical stimulation to trigger Venus flytrap closure.PLoS biology · 2020Article
- Genomes of the Venus Flytrap and Close Relatives Unveil the Roots of Plant Carnivory.Current biology : CB · 2020Article
- The function of secondary metabolites in plant carnivory.Annals of botany · 2020Review
- Origin of volatile organic compound emissions from subarctic tundra under global warming.Global change biology · 2020Article
- Host Selection Behavior of the Green Peach Aphid,Frontiers in plant science · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Does Dionaea muscipula, the Venus flytrap, use a particular mechanism to attract animal prey? This question was raised by Charles Darwin 140 years ago, but it remains unanswered. This study tested the hypothesis that Dionaea releases volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to allure prey insects. For this purpose, olfactory choice bioassays were performed to elucidate if Dionaea attracts Drosophila melanogaster. The VOCs emitted by the plant were further analysed by GC-MS and proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry (PTR-MS). The bioassays documented that Drosophila was strongly attracted by the carnivorous plant. Over 60 VOCs, including terpenes, benzenoids, and aliphatics, were emitted by Dionaea, predominantly in the light. This work further tested whether attraction of animal prey is affected by the nutritional status of the plant. For this purpose, Dionaea plants were fed with insect biomass to improve plant N status. However, although such feeding altered the VOC emission pattern by reducing terpene release, the attraction of Drosophila was not affected. From these results it is concluded that Dionaea attracts insects on the basis of food smell mimicry because the scent released has strong similarity to the bouquet of fruits and plant flowers. Such a volatile blend is emitted to attract insects searching for food to visit the deadly capture organ of the Venus flytrap.
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