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Kreuzwieser, J.* ; Scheerer, U.* ; Kruse, J.* ; Burzlaff, T.* ; Honsel, A.* ; Alfarraj, S.* ; Georgiev, P.* ; Schnitzler, J.-P. ; Ghirardo, A. ; Kreuzer, I.* ; Hedrich, R.* ; Rennenberg, H.*

The Venus flytrap attracts insects by the release of volatile organic compounds.

J. Exp. Bot. 65, 755-766 (2014)
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Does Dionaea muscipula, the Venus flytrap, use a particular mechanism to attract animal prey? This question was raised by Charles Darwin 140 years ago, but it remains unanswered. This study tested the hypothesis that Dionaea releases volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to allure prey insects. For this purpose, olfactory choice bioassays were performed to elucidate if Dionaea attracts Drosophila melanogaster. The VOCs emitted by the plant were further analysed by GC-MS and proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry (PTR-MS). The bioassays documented that Drosophila was strongly attracted by the carnivorous plant. Over 60 VOCs, including terpenes, benzenoids, and aliphatics, were emitted by Dionaea, predominantly in the light. This work further tested whether attraction of animal prey is affected by the nutritional status of the plant. For this purpose, Dionaea plants were fed with insect biomass to improve plant N status. However, although such feeding altered the VOC emission pattern by reducing terpene release, the attraction of Drosophila was not affected. From these results it is concluded that Dionaea attracts insects on the basis of food smell mimicry because the scent released has strong similarity to the bouquet of fruits and plant flowers. Such a volatile blend is emitted to attract insects searching for food to visit the deadly capture organ of the Venus flytrap.
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Publication type Article: Journal article
Document type Scientific Article
Corresponding Author
Keywords Carnivorous plants; Dionaea muscipula; Drosophila melanogaster; VOC emissions.; nitrogen status; olfactory bioassay; plant–animal interaction; Reaction-mass-spectrometry; Carnivorous Plants; Drosophila-melanogaster; Salicylic-acid; Environmental Parameters; Arabidopsis-thaliana; Chemical Ecology; Quercus-robur; Lure Insects; Ptr-ms
ISSN (print) / ISBN 0022-0957
e-ISSN 1460-2431
Journal Journal of Experimental Botany
Quellenangaben Volume: 65, Issue: 2, Pages: 755-766 Article Number: , Supplement: ,
Publisher Oxford University Press
Publishing Place Oxford
Non-patent literature Publications
Reviewing status Peer reviewed
Institute(s) Research Unit Environmental Simulation (EUS)
Institute of Biochemical Plant Pathology (BIOP)