Enzymes from carnivorous plants could help development new antibacterial products

[Ozzy]

London, Feb 1: Researchers have discovered enzymes in insect-eating plants known as Nepenthes alata, which could help in the development of new antibacterial products.


According to a report in Nature News, these enzymes were discovered in the digestive fluids of the carnivorous pitcher plants by Naoya Hatano from the Harima Institute in Riken and Tatsuro Hamada from Ishikawa Prefectural University in Japan.

Most plants support their growth by absorbing nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium from the soil. But for those plants that grow in regions where soils lack these nutrients, alternative arrangements have evolved - such as organs that can catch, kill and digest insects, the report said.

Some of these organs develop as spiky mouths that close on unsuspecting insects when they land on them; some develop as seemingly normal leaves that are covered with goo; others, such as the structures sported by the plant Nepenthes alata, are slippery pitchers that function like pit traps.

The fluid at the base of this plant's trap had long been thought to contain digestive enzymes. Though previous research had confirmed this, but exactly which enzymes were present was not known.

Now, the researchers from Ishikawa Prefectural University in Japan have identified seven proteins in the fluid of the carnivorous plant Nepenthes alata.

The research team grew the carnivorous plants in their lab, and collected the fluid from newly opened pitchers to prevent contamination from recently captured insects. Then they used polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis to separate out the proteins, and mass spectrometry to identify what type of enzymes the proteins were likely to be.

Hatano and Hamada found that although three of the enzymes are certainly capable of digesting insects, the others probably play a role in preservation of the prey because they are closely related to enzymes that prevent fungal and bacterial infections in other plants.

According to Hamada, the concept of preservational enzymes in digestive juice may not at first make sense, but these plants consume insects very slowly, so they compete with bacteria that grow on the insect, stealing the nutrients from the plant.

"These enzymes could potentially be useful in preventing bacterial and fungal infections," said Hamada. "However, further research is needed for their full potential to be realized in agriculture and medicine," he added.

http://www.dailyindia.com/show/2123...-in-development-of-new-antibacterial-products

 

[PlantAKiss]

Great. Now people will be chopping alata pitchers for the fluid hoping it will cure ailments.

 

[Fryster]

No they won't.....

They'll be growin' 'em to study their contents which will/might benefit HUMANS.

Humans are more valuable than plants.

 

[Ozzy]

Not some of the humans I know.

 

[rattler]

Humans are more valuable than plants.

Not some of the humans I know.

agreed........cant say if some one broke in and was hauling my plants out of the house i would treat them any different than if they got into my wifes jewelry...........heck some of the plants would be harder to replace than most of her jewelry..........rack a shell in and let them have it :grin:

 

[jm82792]

A shot in the foot
The cops here are very under staffed we called but it took 45 minutes he said you can take as many measures to remove them from the property Wonder if spud guns count One guy was a yonger assitant and the other was a guy who was fresh from prison they were hired to fix an illegal water line one our property(one of many)they were both in camo my sister told my dad they touched the electric fence to see if it was on but they say they thought it was nobodies property
They would raise the alatas then use syringes to remove the liquid from the pitchers then let it buildup

 

[Finch]

Full report from nature here - http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080131/full/news.2008.546 .html

 

[swords]

Aw, man, am I the only one to notice the dude's name is "Dr. Hamada" (such as as N. hamata).

We already knew a little bit of Nepenthes health benefit folklore from the books "Pitcher Plants of Borneo" and a few sentances in "Savage Garden" - this just goes a little further to prove it. I'll always love Nepenthes even if I don't have space for growing them anymore.

 

[agentrdy]

If they can make a drug out of it i wouldn't put huge Nepenthes farms out of the question, with all that that implies for land use and biodiversity in Borneo. Call me a pessimist.