TY - JOUR

T1 - Carnivory on demand

T2 - phosphorus deficiency induces glandular leaves in the African liana Triphyophyllum peltatum

AU - Winkelmann, Traud

AU - Bringmann, Gerhard

AU - Herwig, Anne

AU - Hedrich, Rainer

N1 - Funding Information: The authors are grateful to Dr Gerd Vogg, Botanical Garden of the University of Würzburg, for his help in maintaining and his sharing of the fascination for this unique plant, and to Dr Ines Kreuzer, University of Würzburg, Biocentre, Julius‐von‐Sachs‐Institute for Biosciences, Department of Molecular Plant‐Physiology and Biophysics – Botany I, and Dr Bernhard Strolka for critical reading of the manuscript. The authors would specially like to thank Dr Leopold Sauheitl and Prof. Dr Georg Guggenberger, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institute of Soil Science for providing the facilities for the nutrient analyses. Furthermore, the authors thank Ewa Schneider, Bärbel Ernst, Institute of Horticultural Production Systems, Leibniz Universität Hannover, for media preparation, Dr Benjamin Klug, Aglukon Spezialdünger GmbH & Co. KG, for providing the foliar fertiliser suspension Wuxal Combi Mg, David Wamhoff, Institute of Horticultural Production Systems, Leibniz Universität Hannover, for help in using the R software for statistical analyses, Simon Richartz, Alexander Klein, and the gardener team of the central facilities of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Leibniz Universität Hannover, for taking care of the plants in the glasshouse. Leibniz Universität Hannover supported the work by funding. This work was supported by a DFG Kosselleck grant (no. 415282803) to RH. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. Triphyophyllum peltatum

PY - 2023/6/28

Y1 - 2023/6/28

N2 - Triphyophyllum peltatum, a rare tropical African liana, is unique in its facultative carnivory. The trigger for carnivory is yet unknown, mainly because the plant is difficult to propagate and cultivate. This study aimed at identifying the conditions that result in the formation of carnivorous leaves. In vitro shoots were subjected to abiotic stressors in general and deficiencies of the major nutrients nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus in particular, to trigger carnivorous leaves' development. Adventitious root formation was improved to allow verification of the trigger in glasshouse-grown plants. Among all the stressors tested, only under phosphorus deficiency, the formation of carnivorous leaves was observed. These glandular leaves fully resembled those found under natural growing conditions including the secretion of sticky liquid by mature capture organs. To generate plants for glasshouse experiments, a pulse of 55.4 μM α-naphthaleneacetic acid was essential to achieve 90% in vitro rooting. This plant material facilitated the confirmation of phosphorus starvation to be essential and sufficient for carnivory induction, also under ex vitro conditions. Having established the cultivation of T. peltatum and the induction of carnivory, future gene expression profiles from phosphorus starvation-induced leaves will provide important insight to the molecular mechanism of carnivory on demand.

AB - Triphyophyllum peltatum, a rare tropical African liana, is unique in its facultative carnivory. The trigger for carnivory is yet unknown, mainly because the plant is difficult to propagate and cultivate. This study aimed at identifying the conditions that result in the formation of carnivorous leaves. In vitro shoots were subjected to abiotic stressors in general and deficiencies of the major nutrients nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus in particular, to trigger carnivorous leaves' development. Adventitious root formation was improved to allow verification of the trigger in glasshouse-grown plants. Among all the stressors tested, only under phosphorus deficiency, the formation of carnivorous leaves was observed. These glandular leaves fully resembled those found under natural growing conditions including the secretion of sticky liquid by mature capture organs. To generate plants for glasshouse experiments, a pulse of 55.4 μM α-naphthaleneacetic acid was essential to achieve 90% in vitro rooting. This plant material facilitated the confirmation of phosphorus starvation to be essential and sufficient for carnivory induction, also under ex vitro conditions. Having established the cultivation of T. peltatum and the induction of carnivory, future gene expression profiles from phosphorus starvation-induced leaves will provide important insight to the molecular mechanism of carnivory on demand.

KW - carnivory

KW - Dioncophyllaceae

KW - in vitro propagation

KW - in vitro rooting

KW - nutrient deficiency

KW - phosphorus deficiency

KW - plasticity

KW - Triphyophyllum peltatum

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85159351535&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/nph.18960

DO - 10.1111/nph.18960

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85159351535

VL - 239

SP - 1140

EP - 1152

JO - New Phytologist

JF - New Phytologist

SN - 0028-646X

IS - 3

ER -