Worm-Eating Plant Discovered in Brazil Traps Prey on Its Sticky Underground Leaves

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Worm-eating plant discovered in Brazil traps prey on its sticky underground leaves A carnivorous plant that can eat tiny worms thanks to its unusual underground leaves has been discovered in Brazil. The Philcoxia minensis plant has flowering leaves above the ground too, but it's what's beneath the soil that has fascinated scientists. The subterranean leaves, each about the size of a pinhead, are able to absorb some light through the white soil of the Cerrado, a tropical savannah region in Brazil. Pretty nasty: Philcoxia minensis has flowers above the ground, but beneath the soil lurk sticky leaves that can trap and eat roundworms Going underground: This image shows a close up of one of the the sticky leaves where a grain of sand (left arrow) is stuck alongside a roundworn (right arrow). But the same leaves are also able to secrete a sticky gum that traps roundworms and slowly digest them. 'It's a great example of how plants, which can't move to find food and water, are able to develop interesting mechanisms to deal [with] extreme environments,' Rafael Oliveira, a professor of botany at Sao Paolo's State University of Campinas, told Physorg.com. Carnivorous plants are not particularly rare, but they are usually found living in extreme conditions. Prey: Roundworms, also known as nematodes, are trapped and digested by the sticky leaves Various types of meat-eating plants have been known to make up their protein intake by wolfing down insects and even rats, as in the case of the Nepenthes Robcantleyt. Prof. Oliveira was fascinated by the Philcoxia plant because its underground leaves were seemingly lacking in function, unable to absorb much light because they lacked direct exposure to the sun. But the team supposed that if the leaves didn't perform a regular function, they must have a more unusual one. What Prof. Oliveira's team needed to prove was that the Philcoxia was actually eating the worms, rather than just trapping them to fertilize the surrounding soil as they decomposed. The research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, explains how the scientists fed the plant with lab-raised roundworms that had been marked with an unusually and easily-recognised isotope of nitrogen. Then, when the plant was 'hungry' again, the team tested the leaves and discovered evidence of the same unusual isotope, which told them the worms had been digested with enzymes and absorbed. On top of the world: How the plant looks above ground in the white sandy soil of the Cerrado Dark side: Under the soil the plants roots and leaves extend downwards (A) and (B), how it appears from directly below .

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Rev Iss Web Nph 12790 203-1 22..28
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