Pitcher plants

The carnivorous pitcher plants of the genus Nepenthes have long been known for their ethnobotanical applications. In this study, we prepared various extracts from the pitcher, stem, and leaf of Nepenthes miranda using 100% ethanol and assessed their inhibitory effects on key enzymes related to skin aging, including elastase, tyrosinase, and hyaluronidase. The cytotoxicity of the stem extract of N. miranda on H838 human lung carcinoma cells were also characterized by effects on cell survival, migration, proliferation, apoptosis induction, and DNA damage...

The cultivation of summer vegetables in open-air nutrient film technique (NFT) hydroponics is limited due to the elevated nutrient solution temperature (NST). In this regard, non-electric evaporative-cooling techniques were explored to maintain NST in open-air NFT hydroponics. Four cooling setups were employed by wrapping polyvinyl chloride (PVC) grow pipes with one and two layers of either wet or dry jute fabrics and attaching them with coiled aluminum pipe buried inside a) wet sand-filled brick tunnels (Cooling Setup I), b) two inverted and vertically stacked earthen pots (Cooling Setup II), c) two inverted and vertically stacked earthen pots externally wrapped with wet jute fabric (Wrapped Cooling Setup II), and d) an earthen pitcher wrapped with wet jute fabric (Cooling Setup III)...

Understanding microbial roles in ecosystem function requires integrating microscopic processes into food webs. The carnivorous pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea, offers a tractable study system where diverse food webs of macroinvertebrates and microbes facilitate digestion of captured insect prey, releasing nutrients supporting the food web and host plant. However, how interactions between these macroinvertebrate and microbial communities contribute to ecosystem functions remains unclear. We examined the role of the pitcher plant mosquito, Wyeomyia smithii, in top-down control of the composition and function of pitcher plant microbial communities...

Liquid spontaneously spreads on rough lyophilic surfaces, and this is driven by capillarity and defined as capillary wicking. Extensive studies on microtextured surfaces have been applied to microfluidics and their corresponding manufacturing. However, the imbibition at mesoscale roughness has seldom been studied due to lacking fabrication techniques. Inspired by the South American pitcher plant Heliamphora minor , which wicks water on its pubescent inside wall for lubrication and drainage, we implemented 3D printing to fabricate a mimetic mesoscopic trichomes array and investigated the high-flux capillary wicking process...

The inefficacy of repelling water droplets laden with macromolecules (complex droplets or diluted polymer solution) is a long-standing shortcoming of superhydrophobic surfaces, which severely limits their reliability in practical applications. Here, we design a surface termed the superhydrophobicity-slipperiness switchable surface (3S surface), which demonstrates superhydrophobicity at room temperature and slipperiness when heated. The 3S surface is composed of magneto-responsive wires coated with superhydrophobic nanoparticles and impregnated with thermoresponsive paraffin, exhibiting lotus leaf-inspired passive water repellency and respiratory cilia-inspired active water repellency at room temperature...

The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function (BEF) captivates ecologists, but the factors responsible for the direction of this relationship remain unclear. While higher ecosystem functioning at higher biodiversity levels ('positive BEF') is not universal in nature, negative BEF relationships seem puzzlingly rare. Here, we develop a dynamical consumer-resource model inspired by microbial decomposer communities in pitcher plant leaves to investigate BEF. We manipulate microbial diversity via controlled colonization and measure their function as total ammonia production...

Composite traits involve multiple components that, only when combined, gain a new synergistic function. Thus, how they evolve remains a puzzle. We combined field experiments, microscopy, chemical analyses, and laser Doppler vibrometry with comparative phylogenetic analyses to show that two carnivorous Nepenthes pitcher plant species independently evolved similar adaptations in three distinct traits to acquire a new, composite trapping mechanism. Comparative analyses suggest that this new trait arose convergently through "spontaneous coincidence" of the required trait combination, rather than directional selection in the component traits...

This study aimed to determine the efficacy of instilling extract of the pitcher plant around the palmar digital nerves of horses to ameliorate digit pain causing lameness. Five mixed breed horses were recruited. Horses were determined to be lame because of pain in the distal portion of one or both thoracic limbs by a positive response to a basisesamoid nerve block using mepivacaine hydrochloride. Gait was evaluated pre- and post-nerve block at 30 min, 3, 7,14 and 21 days. At the 3-week evaluation, the basisesamoid nerve block was repeated using the extract, and the gait was evaluated at similar times...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Subgenome dominance after whole-genome duplication generates distinction in gene number and expression at the level of chromosome sets, but it remains unclear how this process may be involved in evolutionary novelty. Here we generated a chromosome-scale genome assembly of the Asian pitcher plant Nepenthes gracilis to analyse how its novel traits (dioecy and carnivorous pitcher leaves) are linked to genomic evolution. We found a decaploid karyotype and a clear indication of subgenome dominance. A male-linked and pericentromerically located region on the putative sex chromosome was identified in a recessive subgenome and was found to harbour three transcription factors involved in flower and pollen development, including a likely neofunctionalized LEAFY duplicate...

A recent study employs computational models to explore the functional morphology of carnivorous trapping pitchers in Nepenthes. Focusing on the peristome, the study uncovers new dimensions in form-function relationships, offering theoretical insights into the role of complex trap morphology.

Carnivorous plants attract animals, trap and kill them, and absorb nutrients from the digested bodies. This unusual (for autotrophs) type of nutrient acquisition evolved through the conversion of photosynthetically active leaves into specialised organs commonly called traps. The genus Nepenthes (pitcher plants) consists of approximately 169 species belonging to the group of carnivorous plants. Pitcher plants are characterised by specialised passive traps filled with a digestive fluid. The digestion that occurs inside the traps of carnivorous plants depends on the activities of many enzymes...

Plant-associated bacteria have already been considered as the store house of bioactive compounds that confer the plant growth promotion and disease protection. Hence, the unique plant parts have already been expected to harbor diverse microbial communities with multi-beneficial properties. Based on this, the current study has been designed to identify the potential of Serratia sp. NhPB1 isolated from the pitcher of Nepenthes plant for its activity against the infamous pathogen Pythium aphanidermatum. The in vitro antifungal, plant growth promoting and enzymatic activities of the isolate indicated its promises for agricultural application...

PREMISE: The evolution of carnivorous pitcher traps across multiple angiosperm lineages represents a classic example of morphological convergence. Nevertheless, no comparative study to-date has examined pitcher evolution from a quantitative morphometric perspective. METHODS: In the present study, we used comparative morphometric approaches to quantify the shape space occupied by Heliamphora pitchers and to trace evolutionary trajectories through this space to examine patterns of divergence and convergence within the genus...

Carnivorous pitcher plants ( Nepenthes ) are a striking example of a natural pitfall trap. The trap's slippery rim, or peristome, plays a critical role in insect capture via an aquaplaning mechanism that is well documented. While the peristome has received significant research attention, the conspicuous variation in peristome geometry across the genus remains unexplored. We examined the mechanics of prey capture using Nepenthes pitcher plants with divergent peristome geometries. Inspired by living material, we developed a mathematical model that links the peristomes' three-dimensional geometries to the physics of prey capture under the laws of Newtonian mechanics...

It has been 23 years since the conservation status of highland tropical pitcher plant Nepenthes talangensis was assessed in 2000. A number of existing threats (anthropogenic and environmental) may be increasing the risk of extinction for the species. A better understanding of the ecology and conservation needs of the species is required to manage the wild populations. Specifically, better information related to population distributions, ecological requirements, priority conservation areas, the impact of future climate on suitable habitat, and current population structure is needed to properly assess extinction risks...

Achieving long-term and stable gas manipulation in an aqueous environment is necessary to improve multiphase systems relating to gas/liquid interaction. Inspired by the Pitcher plant and the hummingbird beak, we report a slippery/superaerophobic (SLSO) hierarchical fluid channel for continuous, durable, and flexible gas transport. The immiscible lubricant layer inside the SLSO channel promotes one-year stability of gas transport, and the maximum flux of this open channel can reach 3000 mL h-1 . Further integration of a CO2 capturing microchip demonstrates the availability and potential of this gas-manipulating interface, which should provide a valuable platform to develop advanced materials and devices...

Accessible populations of plants are critical to the meaningful exercise of Aboriginal and treaty rights in Canada. In the oil sands region of Alberta, populations of culturally significant plant species overlap with extensive oil and gas development. This has led to a host of questions and concerns related to plant health and integrity from both Indigenous communities and western scientists. Here, we assessed trace element concentrations in the northern pitcher-plant (tsala' t'ile; Sarracenia purpurea L.) with a focus on elements associated with fugitive dust and bitumen...

Carnivorous pitcher plants are uniquely adapted to nitrogen limitation, using pitfall traps to acquire nutrients from insect prey. Pitcher plants in the genus Sarracenia may also use nitrogen fixed by bacteria inhabiting the aquatic microcosms of their pitchers. Here, we investigated whether species of a convergently evolved pitcher plant genus, Nepenthes , might also use bacterial nitrogen fixation as an alternative strategy for nitrogen capture. First, we constructed predicted metagenomes of pitcher organisms from three species of Singaporean Nepenthes using 16S rRNA sequence data and correlated predicted nifH abundances with metadata...

Wyeomyia smithii, the pitcher-plant mosquito, has evolved from south to north and from low to high elevations in eastern North America. Along this seasonal gradient, critical photoperiod has increased while apparent involvement of the circadian clock has declined in concert with the evolutionary divergence of populations. Response to classical experiments used to test for a circadian basis of photoperiodism varies as much within and among populations of W. smithii as have been found in the majority of all other insects and mites...