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Venus flytrap carnivorous lifestyle builds on herbivore defense strategies

    • 1Center for Computational and Theoretical Biology, Campus Hubland Nord; Department of Bioinformatics, Biocenter, Am Hubland, University of Würzburg, D-97218 Würzburg, Germany;
    • 2Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology and Biophysics, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, 97082 Würzburg, Germany;
    • 3Department of Plant Systems Biology, University of Hohenheim, 70593 Stuttgart, Germany;
    • 4Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany;
    • 5Zoology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia;
    • 6Bioorganic Chemistry Department, Max-Planck-Institute for Chemical Ecology, 07745 Jena, Germany;
    • 7Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS), Heinrich-Heine-University, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
    • 8 Present address: Max-Planck-Institute for Developmental Biology, Department of Molecular Biology, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
Published May 4, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1101/gr.202200.115
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cover of Genome Research Vol 36 Issue 6
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June 2026, Vol. 36, No. 6
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Abstract

Although the concept of botanical carnivory has been known since Darwin's time, the molecular mechanisms that allow animal feeding remain unknown, primarily due to a complete lack of genomic information. Here, we show that the transcriptomic landscape of the Dionaea trap is dramatically shifted toward signal transduction and nutrient transport upon insect feeding, with touch hormone signaling and protein secretion prevailing. At the same time, a massive induction of general defense responses is accompanied by the repression of cell death–related genes/processes. We hypothesize that the carnivory syndrome of Dionaea evolved by exaptation of ancient defense pathways, replacing cell death with nutrient acquisition.

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