How do Venus flytraps trap flies?
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Melissa:I'm Melissa.
Jam:I'm Jam.
Melissa:And I'm a chemist.
Jam:And I'm not.
Melissa:And welcome to chemistry for your life.
Jam:The podcast helps you understand the chemistry of your everyday life.
Melissa:I'm not sure how everyday life today's topic is, but it is sort of everyday life.
Jam:I guess maybe for some people?
Melissa:For some people. So this weekend, I went to Mississippi, and you'll hear more about that in my week in review at the end. I went to see my sister and do some wedding festivities, and we went on a hike and saw pitcher plants. And pitcher plants are a type of carnivorous plant similar to the Venus flytraps.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Yeah. And that got us thinking about what is the chemistry of pitcher plants and Venus flytraps.
Jam:Okay. So it's similar?
Melissa:Well, actually, I think they do work by a different mechanism, and there's a lot less information about pitcher pan plants out there. So I actually changed today's episode to focus only on Venus flytraps.
Jam:Okay. Got it. That's the one that most of us are familiar with anyway. They're like Yes. Have kind of Fascinated us, and it kinda spooked us a little bit ever since we were kids.
Jam:So
Melissa:Yes. And there's a really cool episode of another podcast called Criminal.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:They do it's sort of like true crime. It's related to crime, but it's different than other ones. And they did a whole episode on the seedy underbelly of people stealing Venus flytrap. So if you are dying for more Venus flytrap content after this, I highly recommend you go find that episode of Criminal and watch it be or listen to it because it is really good, and it's a fun type of that show is a fun type of true crime, I think, so go and check that out. Okay.
Melissa:So how do Venus fly traps work? It's actually pretty complicated.
Jam:I would expect that, I guess. I mean, it certainly seems like it.
Melissa:And it's very chemical, and it's also some other things besides just chemical.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Okay. So here's what happens. There's trigger hairs all over the trap of the or the mouth of the venous flytrap. Mhmm. And when these trigger hairs are are touched, they actually send it's called an action potential.
Melissa:It's a type of electrical potential
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:To the flytrap.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And there actually needs to be a few touches before anything will happen. So the 1st touch
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Onto the trigger hairs, nothing happens.
Jam:K.
Melissa:But if you get 2 within 30 seconds, boom.
Jam:Woah. So they're count I mean, in a way, counting.
Melissa:Yes. They're sort of counting. There's actually a team in Japan that this is kind of newer information, but they are studying Venus fly traps and believe that as the trigger hairs are touched Mhmm. They release a pair of molecules that need to accumulate to a certain amount before the plant will clamp shut, that
Jam:sends the signal. Got it. Got it.
Melissa:But it was just a very brief introductory article to that, so I think that's kind of newer on the scene. So it's not just about the touches and the action potentials. It's also about the chemicals that are accumulating when the trigger hairs are touched to know how many to do the counting action.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. Interesting. So kind of a different way of I mean, it makes sense that they'd have to have some other way of counting.
Jam:It's not really time, but more like, Amount of that molecule.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:Interesting.
Melissa:So after 2 touches, the flytrap clamps shut. Mhmm. But if 3 touches happen, the electrical potential at that time will trigger jasmonic acid to be released.
Jam:K.
Melissa:We talked about Jasmonic acid Yeah. Little in the last episode.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:That plays a role in determining how much nutrients the plants make. Right?
Jam:Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Melissa:Okay. So when the jasmonic acid is triggered that alerts the flytrap to release enzymes that are then going to dissolve the bug into its base nutrients.
Jam:Okay. Got it. So, like, After it clamps shut, the fly is gonna move more and obviously touch a lot a lot more hairs, and that will trigger that every time. The.
Melissa:Well, actually, that's pretty close. So once it's triggering the more hairs, it's since the after 3rd, it says the jasmonic acid tells us to start releasing enzymes. Uh-huh. It seems like once that initial jasmonic acid is released, it switches from the jasmonic acid being the intermediate to just the electrical impulses from the touching then starts to generate more of the enzymes. So there's both of those.
Melissa:Once the jasmonic acid starts the process, it's like just the electrical potential is enough to keep it going.
Jam:Got it. Got it. Okay. Cool. Cool.
Melissa:But you're right. And one thing is that it knows how big the fly is in a way Mhmm. By how many of those trigger hairs are triggered when it moves, and so if it's a bigger fly, it knows to release more of those digestive juices. Uh-huh. And if it's a smaller and it's touching less of the trigger hairs, then it's needs to release less of those digestive juices.
Jam:Interesting. Dang. That's crazy.
Melissa:So the Venus flytrap kind of knows, based on the electrical potential, how much of the molecules and the enzymes they need to send out to dissolve their prey?
Jam:Man, That is crazy. Once again, just like last week, it's like plants just have more going on on the surface than I give them credit for.
Melissa:Definitely. And Jeez. I try to dig into what that digesting liquid is. The biggest thing I found is that it's basically enzymes that breaks down the bugs' nutrients that already exist in it into its base units. We have enzymes in our digestive system too.
Melissa:So that makes sense. Yeah. I think it might be a slightly acidic solution based on 1 paper I found to help, lower the pH and dissolve, but I don't know for sure.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:It was kind of hard to get that specific information.
Jam:Yeah. Dang, dude. Interesting.
Melissa:So that is how chemistry helps Venus flytraps detect
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And hunt their prey and then eat it.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:But there's also more.
Jam:Okay. Nice.
Melissa:Okay. So last week, we talked about those volatile organic compounds or the green leaf compounds that all plants make in trace amounts, those are given off usually in bigger amounts by plants that are under duress.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Well, Venus fly traps release up to 60 different volatile organic compounds that smell like the types of food that flies eat
Jam:Woah.
Melissa:Which tricks the flies into coming and letting the flytrap eat them.
Jam:Oh my gosh. That is so crazy. A predatory plant.
Melissa:I know.
Jam:Not just that they obviously, they knowing that they eat flies, you know, kinda makes them that way anyway, but, like, they loo are luring them. They're tricking them. That is crazy.
Melissa:Tricking that. Yeah. And as I was reading about the different types of carnivorous plants, I think there's 6 ones that evolved differently over time. So they separately came to have these carnivorous plants. They aren't all part of the same original family or family tree or whatever
Jam:Right. Right.
Melissa:But it seems like they adapted from a defense mechanism. So the way Grass will send out that Mhmm. Hey, come eat. Mechanism. So the way grass will send out that
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Hey. Come eat this bug as a defense mechanism, the carnivorous plants sort of adapted that into then becoming the predator.
Jam:So they're kinda like, man, well, maybe what if I eat the bug? Like exactly. They're like, instead of just getting somebody else to eat it, what if I eat it? That's that's one of the things that's so crazy to me. I'd love to See, like, some way to figure out someday when science is advanced enough to, like, just get a little bit understanding of How a plant got from there to there and, like, what stage is in between.
Jam:You know? Because it wouldn't have been a mean flytrap overnight. It would have been A few other things first, but, man, that's fascinating to me.
Melissa:It is so fascinating. And the thing too that's amazing to me is it uses these electrical and chemical signals to make sure that it's not wasting its energy closing on nothing because it's all an energy game. Right? You need to expend less energy than you're taking in to survive.
Jam:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Melissa:And so or at least make it equal. And so they're not gonna just close anytime anything touches it. They're going to wait until there's been enough touches to where they're sure that they will get some nutrients out of the energy wasted by closing the flytrap.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:Dang. That's so advanced. Mhmm.
Jam:And, I mean, most plants aren't really trying to do a lot of movement. So I'm sure that, like, it closing the amount of energy it takes to to do that is probably somewhat significant in the sense that many, many plants aren't having to do that. They aren't having to, like, no movement they're trying to worry about is growing, you know, and maybe leaning to more toward light or something. But I'm sure that the act of, like, closing something really quickly is is costs something in energy that's Yeah. That makes sense.
Melissa:So I thought that was fascinating. I think the way that they break down and if they still photosynthesize and all that is probably gonna be another lesson for another day, but I thought it was amazing that Venus flytraps use chemistry to attract their prey and also to eat it.
Jam:Yeah. Man. That's nuts.
Melissa:I know.
Jam:Okay. Should I give a take a crack at pertaining this back to you?
Melissa:Yeah. Take a crack at it. See if you can summarize it. It's a sort of similar to the last week, it's a little bit of a different type of episode. We're not going in-depth on 1 chemistry lesson, but it's all how the chemistry to sort of functions in this new setting.
Jam:Right. Right. So firstly, the first step of everything, I guess, is that Venus fly traps are releasing some volatile, Molecules or compounds or or whatever that in the 1st place attract flies because they somehow are similar enough to Some of the things that flies are trying to smell and get hints about where where food might be that they want. Right. And so before the fly ever comes to the flytrap, the flytrap's baiting it with The sweet smell of of betrayal.
Jam:And then when flies arrive, It has these hairs that are trigger hairs. But in order to protect itself and not expend energy, unnecessarily, It has a way of only closing when 2 hairs are triggered close enough together. And the way it knows that is that each time one of the trigger hairs is is is triggered, the it uses, like, electrical Impulses Mhmm. And releases some molecule, some amount of something That when it happens twice close enough together, the plant knows alright. It's go time.
Jam:Let's this is probably a real fly. Let's do this.
Melissa:Do you wanna know what that part kind of reminded me of, an analogy in my mind?
Jam:Oh, yes, please.
Melissa:You know those really complicated machines people make to do basic things?
Jam:Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Melissa:There's a name for them where it's like, oh, and the marble rolls down the track and then hits this and then hits that, basically, all it does in the end is knock something over, but it is a whole complex trigger system.
Jam:Rube Goldberg, I think, is the term. Yes.
Melissa:Yeah. That's right. It reminded me of a Rube Goldberg where you have to get exactly the right number of touches to do the thing, and then it'll trigger this, and then that'll trigger this, and all the things will happen. And that was what was going on in my mind as I was imagining Yeah. The inner workings of the Venus flytrap.
Jam:And I guess tons of things actually would be sort of like that If we got went under the hood on everything, because what some seems simple to us and also instantaneous for many things is, like, tons of steps like That. Right. Oh, this signals to that. It signals to this. But
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:And then we do that just for fun when we make those machines.
Melissa:Yeah. So
Jam:it does that. Closes on the fly. And then once it's it gets a 3rd trigger pair, or I guess even maybe even more than 3, but it knows to start the process of Digesting the fly. And so it sends Mhmm. The jasmonic acid is to help distribute the nutrients.
Jam:Right? That that you said it happens first?
Melissa:Yeah. That sort of begins the process, from what I could tell, it seems like the jasmonic acid is released to trigger the endocrine system is what it's called, which starts then sending out the nutrients that are going to get the plan, its nutrients.
Jam:Right. Right. And then it and then sends enzymes to start breaking down the Fly to its
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Basic, you know, building block blocks its basic nutrients that make up the fly so that it can start Taking it in and digesting it.
Melissa:Right. And the way I kind of imagined the jasmonic acid was that is sort of the light switch. So now the lights are
Jam:on. Okay.
Melissa:Or maybe it's like the power. You flip the breaker, so you turn on the system. And then the more trigger hairs that are messed with the more electrical impulses are going, that's how we know how much we need. So it's like one turns it on and the other determines how much volume Yeah.
Jam:Okay. Got it. Got it. And then
Melissa:how long
Jam:I was gonna ask this. How long does it take to digest a fly on average? Or do Was that in your research? Did that come up?
Melissa:Yeah. I think it varies based on the size of the fly, but it seemed like it was about a week based on one of the there's kind of an overall review Mhmm. That went over the, quote, hunting cycle of the Venus flytrap, and, that one said about a week, and then it reopens ready to catch the next fly.
Jam:Got it. Man, interesting. That is crazy.
Melissa:I know. Isn't it just the applications of chemistry constantly astound me. I mean, I feel like I know that they're in everyday life and that plants use it, and it it's it's sort of the building blocks of everything, so there's a little bit of chemistry all over the place. You know? But learning these new applications, how plants are using chemistry to become predators Yeah.
Melissa:Is amazing to me.
Jam:Yeah. Seriously. Man, dude. Pesnos
Melissa:was originally a defense mechanism has become a hunting mechanism.
Jam:Yeah. It makes me wonder, like, Just it's hard to tell, I think, when we're in just 1 snapshot of time, even if you just look back, you know, however long Science has been trying to keep track of things. I wonder if plants are moving if we could tell if plants are moving more in that direction or No. Wait for a minute or neither. But, like, what if what if we could tell?
Jam:Like, oh, yeah. Actually, more plants are moving toward Being predators. Yeah. Is that more advantageous to them or not? And would that happen if insect populations get All these things that start to like, questions just start to go in my mind about, like, just lots of curiosities about that because
Melissa:Oh, I'm sure there are people who are wondering those things and maybe even studying them because, you know, they're learning about these different 6 different carnivorous types of carnivorous plants that independently evolved, you know, they so they've learned some of that. So I'm sure they're using that to inform what's coming next or if there's plans that are sort of on the track or the individual steps or whatever.
Jam:You know? Yeah. Man, that's crazy.
Melissa:I know. I thought this one was really fun, and it was fun that we got to see some the pitcher plants are different.
Jam:Mhmm. And
Melissa:we can probably talk about them another time, but you can they have, like, almost little lids that close, and we lifted up some lids and saw some little gnats
Jam:down in there stuck on
Melissa:the wall. I was like, Woah. Yeah. That's crazy. That is crazy.
Melissa:It was fun to have had a real life application to it.
Jam:Yeah. That's awesome. I remember watching, like, Probably National Geographic videos of or in school growing up of flytraps and pitcher plants and stuff. And the those images are still in my because I'm like, you know, I probably have never I've seen a fudge up in person, but I've never seen a pitcher plant in person, I don't think. But it's just funny how, like, that immediately came to mind, and I could imagine that what you're talking about.
Jam:It's like yeah. That's buried in my, like, 5th grade brain somewhere.
Melissa:Yeah. I wish we had taken pictures, but Maybe I get my sister to take a picture, and she goes on that hike pretty regularly. So
Jam:Oh, nice. Maybe I
Melissa:can get her to take a picture next time she goes, and we can post it.
Jam:Yeah. That'd be awesome. I'd love to see it.
Melissa:Well, actually, that kind of is a good transition into talking about our week's this week because I was in Mississippi with my sister looking at those pitcher plants
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:For a crawfish boil that, was actually in honor of my wedding. So
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:Because of COVID, we're really keeping things COVID y safe and small. And so we kind of broke up our wedding reception into several small receptions with smaller groups, so there's less risk of transmission. A lot of our our people have been vaccinated, so that's really nice.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:So we had a COVID safe outdoor crawfish boil in Mississippi with some of, my really close Mississippi friends, a lot of them are scientists. I met them when I did a research experience for undergrads Mhmm. I don't know if we've talked about that very much, but if there's anyone who's interested in studying science and who's an undergrad, you can sign up for a science program over the summer called an REU through the National Science Foundation in the United States, but you can go all over the world for these. And I ended up doing one there on the same island where my sister lives, and it was just really fun experience to get to do science for a whole summer
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And you get to live somewhere new, and they pay for you to stay there. It's really great. Wow. So go sign up, and I made these lifelong friends from that experience, 10 years ago, pretty much. Yeah.
Jam:Wow.
Melissa:So that was a great time. We had an awesome
Jam:it
Melissa:was just fun to be in an almost normal setting.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:Crawfish boils take place outside anyway. You know? Yeah. It's good food, good company. My sister and brother-in-law threw it for us, so it was just really a fun time.
Melissa:Yeah. Yeah. What about you? What have you been up to this week? I haven't seen you much.
Melissa:So what have you been doing?
Jam:Yeah. So last week, this is something you'll already know about, but, Was only the 2nd time ever that Em and I got to go on a date night since having a kid. I think it's the 2nd time. I'll say it's it's at least, you know, 2nd or 3rd or something like that. But in my memory, There's only been 2 times since having a kid that we've been able to, like, leave the house and leave him here and go on a date.
Jam:And we were able to do that because our friends, Melissa and Mason, who I think you know pretty well, came and hung out at our house, watched our baby monitor, And that kind of stuff, which was really great, and we feel like we can a little more comfortable doing that as some of our friends are getting vaccinated. It it feels like We can kind of start to do that, which is also important for Em and I to to do to get a break to make sure that we get good quality time together. And so It was just fun. We went and got some, some Mediterranean food at a place that we liked that we hadn't been to in forever and then, Like, walked around our our little, square downtown square area here in Denton and hung out. It was just cool.
Jam:The kind of stuff that, you know, when we didn't have a kid, we could do anytime, but it's more special when you haven't done it in a while, and you're like, oh, wow. Yeah. Let's go do let's go wouldn't be fun just to go walk around the square? You know, stuff like that that
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:That is always fun, but it when you haven't done it in a while and it's a little special, it kinda stands out more. So that's really cool. So thanks to you and Mason for being willing to do that and, giving Him and I a little bit of a a chance to just be adults, not worry about a kid for a little bit, so And get out of the house. Yeah.
Melissa:That was so fun, actually, because I was just getting we were just getting stuff done for the wedding and work and stuff, we just did that at y'all's house and said, so it wasn't that big of a deal at all.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Well, thank you, Jim, for coming and learning have Venus fly traps to work and for sharing my amazement and excitement, I appreciate that. And thanks to all of you listeners for coming and learning about Venus fly traps too.
Jam:And thanks for teaching us. This is a fascinating topic. This is one of those ones that, like, gosh, my, like, 4th, 5th grade self I mean, honestly, I've wondered about them All the time. But ever since I learned that even existed, I have wondered about Venus flytrap. So thanks for teaching us.
Jam:And if you have things that you've wondered about, Things that you currently or your child itself has always wondered about that have to do with chemistry, please let us know. We'd love to hear your ideas. Reach out to us on Gmail, Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook at chem for your life. That's Kim, f o r, your life to share your thoughts and ideas. If you like to help us keep our show going and contribute to cover the cost of making it, Go to kodashfi.com/chem for your life and donate the cost of a cup of coffee.
Jam:And don't forget, Between now and the end of May, if you go on our and subscribe at any amount monthly, Melissa and I will send you a note and an exclusive sticker to say thank you. But if you're not able to done it, you can still help us by subscribing on your favorite podcast app and rating and writing our review on Apple Podcasts. That also helps us to share chemistry with even more people.
Melissa:This episode of Chemistry For Your Life was created by Melissa Collini and Jam Robinson. References for this episode can be found in our show notes or on our website. Jim Robinson is our producer, and we'd like to give a special thanks to S Navarro and A. Kewasong who reviewed this episode.
