Omics Approaches in Uncovering Molecular Evolution and Physiology of Botanical Carnivory.

Systems biology has been increasingly applied with multiple omics for a holistic comprehension of complex biological systems beyond the reductionist approach that focuses on individual molecules. Different high-throughput omics approaches, including genomics, transcriptomics, metagenomics, proteomics, and metabolomics have been implemented to study the molecular mechanisms of botanical carnivory. This covers almost all orders of carnivorous plants, namely Caryophyllales, Ericales, Lamiales, and Oxalidales, except Poales.

Post-Proline Cleaving Enzymes (PPCEs): Classification, Structure, Molecular Properties, and Applications.

Proteases or peptidases are hydrolases that catalyze the breakdown of polypeptide chains into smaller peptide subunits. Proteases exist in all life forms, including archaea, bacteria, protozoa, insects, animals, and plants due to their vital functions in cellular processing and regulation. There are several classes of proteases in the MEROPS database based on their catalytic mechanisms.

Neprosin belongs to a new family of glutamic peptidase based on in silico evidence.

Neprosin was first discovered in the insectivorous tropical pitcher plants of Nepenthes species as a novel protease with prolyl endopeptidase (PEP) activity. Neprosin has two uncharacterized domains of neprosin activation peptide and neprosin. A previous study has shown neprosin activity in hydrolyzing proline-rich gliadin, a gluten component that triggers celiac disease.

Protease activity is maintained in Nepenthes ampullaria digestive fluids depleted of endogenous proteins with compositional changes.

Nepenthes ampullaria is a unique carnivorous tropical pitcher plant with the detritivorous capability of sequestering nutrients from leaf litter apart from being insectivorous. The changes in the protein composition and protease activity of its pitcher fluids during the early opening of pitchers (D0 and D3C) were investigated via a proteomics approach and a controlled protein depletion experiment (D3L). A total of 193 proteins were identified.

Transcriptomic and Proteomic Analyses of and Reveal Parental Molecular Expression in the Pitchers of Their Hybrid, × .

is a genus comprising carnivorous tropical pitcher plants that have evolved trapping organs at the tip of their leaves for nutrient acquisition from insect trapping. Recent studies have applied proteomics approaches to identify proteins in the pitcher fluids for better understanding the carnivory mechanism, but protein identification is hindered by limited species-specific transcriptomes for . In this study, the proteomics informed by transcriptomics (PIT) approach was utilized to identify and compare proteins in the pitcher fluids of , , and their hybrid × through PacBio isoform sequencing (Iso-Seq) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) proteomic profiling.