Jasmonate signalling in carnivorous plants: copycat of plant defence mechanisms

Abstract

The lipid-derived jasmonate phytohormones (JAs) regulate a wide spectrum of physiological processes in plants such as growth, development, tolerance to abiotic stresses, and defence against pathogen infection and insect attack. Recently, a new role for JAs has been revealed in carnivorous plants. In these specialized plants, JAs can induce the formation of digestive cavities and regulate enzyme production in response to different stimuli from caught prey. Appearing to be a new function for JAs in plants, a closer look reveals that the signalling pathways involved resemble known signalling pathways from plant defence mechanisms. Moreover, the digestion-related secretome of carnivorous plants is composed of many pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins and low molecular weight compounds, indicating that the plant carnivory syndrome is related to and has evolved from plant defence mechanisms. This review describes the similarities between defence and carnivory. It further describes how, after recognition of caught insects, JAs enable the carnivorous plants to digest and benefit from the prey. In addition, a causal connection between electrical and jasmonate signalling is discussed.

Keywords: Dionaea (Venus flytrap); Drosera (sundew); Nepenthes (pitcher plant); Digestive enzymes; electrical signals; jasmonic acid; plant carnivory.