Venus Flytrap

Professor Hardy
Biology 1010-007
11 October 2016
Venus Flytrap
Our organism of study is the Venus Flytrap. (Dionaea Muscipula). The scientific article
we are using to study this organism is The Venus Flytrap Dionaea muscipula Counts PreyInduced Action Potentials to Induce Sodium Uptake written by JenniferBohmandothers.This

articlewaspublishedintheCurrentBiologymagazine.
The organism that is being described in this paper is the Venus Flytrap. The domain this
organism is classified under is Eukarya. We know this because this organism has many plant
cells with membrane bound nuclei. The kingdom classification is plantae. The phylum of this
organism is vascular plant, which is a plant that is characterized by the presence of conducting
tissue. The class of the Venus Flytrap is Magnoliopsida. This specific organisms classification of
order falls under Nepenthales. The family classification of the Venus Flytrap is Drosereceae,
which is a family of carnivorous plants. The genus of this organism is Dionaea Ellis. The species
classification is Dionaea Muscipula Ellis.
Merchant and botanist John Ellis became interested in the flytrap in 1770. He became
fascinated with the flytrap when he noticed the plant starts out as a flower and grows into the trap
due to the prey it encounters. Many were fascinated by the flytraps just-in-time system
provided by its digestive system, and the flytraps mechanism for producing the perfect amount of
enzymes needed to survive in any area.
In this scientific paper they are asking the question, how many times trigger hairs have to
be stimulated for the flytrap to recognize an engaged object as potential food, thus making it
worthwhile to activate the glands. They came up with the hypothesis that the Venus Flytrap uses
a number of prey-triggered APs to identify visitors as food sources, and captures and processes
them, to internalize nutrient cations from the prey ultimately leading to the necessary Na intake
providing a storage form of energy in the green stomach. In simpler words how does the Venus
Flytrap decide when to close and internalize prey? Does it use a number of prey-triggered hairs
to stimulate the digestive glands?
The experimenters used surface electrode measurements to test and monitor the electrical
activity of a Venus Flytrap. Surface electrodes were attached to trap lobes of the flytrap, the
trigger hairs were then stimulated at a maximum of sixty times per hour. This experiment did use
captured insects to stimulate the hairs, however they were manually applied to trigger the action
potential. The experimenters found that trap was still open after the first action potential. Based
on this result they concluded that two stimuli must be consecutively applied to the hairs and both
must trigger action potential in order to close the trap. Trap samples were collected four hours
after the first action potential, this was used to monitor jasmonic acid (a touch hormone) as well
as stomach hydrolases, a digestive enzyme that helps break down the insect into nourishment,
and solute transporters. The experimenters were right in that it does take two action potentials for

the trap to close however they also discovered that it takes four of more action potentials for the
cells to produce digestive enzymes. This allows the Venus Flytrap to not only capture its prey but
also digest it.
Venus Flytraps grow in nutrient poor soil. They have found ways around growing under
these conditions. They receive their nutrients from gases in the air and also by eating insects.
Like any other plant, the Venus flytrap depends on photosynthesis to help it make and store
energy. Photosynthesis is when the plant uses sunlight to make chemical energy. They collect
materials by trapping an organism inside a closed space after engaging the triggers. The Triggers
need to be touched three times before digestion begins. The First trigger touch traps the insect
inside, the second touch adds more pressure and finally the third touch begins the digestion
process. The Digestion process takes five to twelve days and then the organism opens up again,
however, the digestive process depends on the insect size, temperature, and age of the Venus
flytrap. During the twelfth day the Venus flytrap reabsorbs their digestive fluids back and all that
is left is the exoskeleton of the insect which is blown away by the wind or washed away with the
rain. If the Venus Flytrap seals non-living materials such as rocks and nuts, its waits twelve hours
and then splits out this material. The Venus Flytrap reproduces after it matures, it will produce
flowers on the tall stalk above the leaves. The reason the flowers have to be high is because the
insects need to be able to pollinate it without getting trapped by the Venus Flytrap.
Through process and tests, as well as examining through multiple experiments with
selective resources such as: Na+, DmHKT1 (after naming it from Trk/Ktr/HKT families).
Finding that Dionaea sodium channels gets acquired by prey-derived sodium from its captured
prey after the insect triggered multiple trigger hairs over its captured hours, and being slowly
digested. The Sodium is taken by the plants glands and then are channeled into the traps while
the sodium doesnt change. It is expressed that its stored in the large central vacuoles of the
parenchyma cells. This would have been a success in their eyes as they made the hypothesis
earlier in the article believing that the Dionaea process did help move the sodium to its green
stomach.
The Authors identified and concluded, that the flytrap uses the Na+ through the natural
soils around them, as well as through NA+rich animals, and conclude that the process is similar
to another form of storage. This means of energy collection and growth of the plant has multiple
ways of getting its energy, from animals that trigger its digestive enzymes and through 100-200
mM NaNl soil solution.
This paper is interesting because the Venus flytrap is a fascinating plant. It is the only
plant with electrical signals that let it know when prey is near and attacks on it for survival. It
will continue to grow as long as it has prey to feed on. The Venus flytrap is what many biologists
call an intelligent plant, they say this because they believe the plant can count to at least sixty. In
doing so it is a mechanism to catch their prey. The Venus flytrap can live a long as it has prey to
feed on, it is an independent killer plant.

WorksCited
Bohm, Jennifer. "The Venus Flytrap Dionaea Muscipula Counts PreyInduced Action
Potentials to Induce Sodium Uptake." Current Biology 8 Feb. 2016: 1-11. Print.
Gorman, James. "The Venus Flytrap, a Plant That Can Count." The New York Times. The
New York Times, 2016. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
"
The Mysterious Venus Flytrap." The Mysterious Venus Flytrap. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct.
2016.