A carnivorous leaf of Triphyophyllum peltatum with glands excreting a sticky liquid to capture insect prey. (Image: Traud Winkelmann / Universität Hannover)
A carnivorous leaf of Triphyophyllum peltatum with glands excreting a sticky liquid to capture insect prey. (Image: Traud Winkelmann / Universität Hannover) Under certain circumstances, a rare tropical plant develops into a carnivore. A research team from the universities of Hannover and Würzburg has now deciphered the mechanism responsible for this. Triphyophyllum peltatum is a unique plant. Native to the tropics of West Africa, the liana species is of great interest for medical and pharmaceutical research due to its constituents: In the laboratory, these show promising medically useful activities against pancreatic cancer and leukemia cells, among others, as well as against the pathogens that cause malaria and other diseases. However, the plant species is also interesting from a botanical perspective: Triphyophyllum peltatum is the only known plant in the world that can become a carnivore under certain circumstances. Its menu then includes small insects, which it capture with the help of adhesive traps in the form of secretion drops and digest with lytic enzymes synthesized.
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