Nepenthesin protease activity indicates digestive fluid dynamics in carnivorous nepenthes plants.

Carnivorous plants use different morphological features to attract, trap and digest prey, mainly insects. Plants from the genus Nepenthes possess specialized leaves called pitchers that function as pitfall-traps. These pitchers are filled with a digestive fluid that is generated by the plants themselves.

Characterization and heterologous expression of a PR-1 protein from traps of the carnivorous plant Nepenthes mirabilis.

Carnivorous plants capture and digest prey to obtain additional nutrients. Therefore, different trapping mechanisms were developed in different species. Plants of the genus Nepenthes possess pitfall-traps filled with a digestive fluid, which is secreted by the plants themselves.

Secreted pitfall-trap fluid of carnivorous Nepenthes plants is unsuitable for microbial growth.

Background And Aims: Carnivorous plants of the genus Nepenthes possess modified leaves that form pitfall traps in order to capture prey, mainly arthropods, to make additional nutrients available for the plant. These pitchers contain a digestive fluid due to the presence of hydrolytic enzymes. In this study, the composition of the digestive fluid was further analysed with regard to mineral nutrients and low molecular-weight compounds.